Dirty Little Secrets
by funstt
Summary: After one drunken night, Dawn and Paul find themselves setting aside their differences and giving in to their sexual tension. They soon find that maintaining a "no strings attached" relationship is a challenge, especially with friends like theirs. Can they find a way to make it work or will they begin to want more? Ikarishipping, Oldrival, Poke, and Contest
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note: This story is about two friends who have casual sex. It's a romance story and will not have any swearing or scenes detailing sex acts. However, there will be sexual innuendos and a reasonable amount of mature content at times. I have listed this story as T as there will not be anything that I consider out of control, but if anyone thinks I should change the listing to M please don't hesitate to let me know and I will change it over. If you are not comfortable with reading such material, please press the "back" button on your browser and find another story. I am not a huge fan of Author's Notes but I hope you all enjoy, and just know that this story was inspired by "I Am Lu" who's writing skills got me so excited about Pokemon that I decided to write my own completely unrelated story. If you want to see the best Pokemon story on FanFiction, check out her story "The Ash Connection"._**

Dawn sat in silence in the passenger seat of the car. Paul, a guy with lavender coloured hair was in the driver's seat. The radio echoed in the background but no one dare hum or tap to the music coming from it. The mood was tense and awkward and they had no choice but to wait out the drive.

As they entered her drive way Paul parked the car. More silence.

Dawn thought carefully for a minute and decided it was time for her to face the music. Turning towards Paul she began, "Look Paul I-" but she could no longer speak, as her lips were covered with his own. He was kissing her. And as surprised as she was, she loved it.

They continued for a couple of minutes until Paul pulled away and turned back to facing the window. Dawn was shocked. She didn't know what to say so she just sat their silently with her mouth slightly agape.

After opening and closing her mouth to talk a few times she finally settled on "Do you want to come in?"

He looked at her face, she was dead serious. The pause seemed to take forever, but he nodded and they got out of the car. As they walked up her driveway however she felt his hand graze her arm as he stopped her. She wasn't sure why he had stopped. Surely not just to look at her. Upon closer inspection she realised he was slowly edging closer and closer to her. Extremely slowly, Dawn thought for sure the suspense was going to kill her. She had nowhere else to go as her back was finally against the rendered wall of her porch.

As he was edging forward, he couldn't help but take his time as he took in her scent, noting she smelled like strawberries and looked into her beautiful, big, sapphire eyes. The way they shone in the moonlight was breathtaking. With his hand on the wall he moved in closer and closer, his breath tickling her skin.

She didn't dare pull away, she simply waited. Her breath hitched as he came in closer and closer until finally, he kissed her once more. Her mind was racing…How did he manage to make her feel so…alive?

He once again pulled away but this time he didn't move. His eyes were still closed, his breath still lingering as he stood above her, no more than an inch away from her face. He was easily 6 foot tall and despite the six inch heels she was wearing she was at least half a head shorter than him, if not shorter.

She slowly opened her eyes, his eyes still closed. She whispered, "You don't have to be embarrassed with me Paul."

Slowly he opened his eyes to meet hers. Nearly losing control right then and there, he took a deep breath in an attempt to compose himself. Looking back into her eyes, which were full of confusion yet staring deeply into her eyes made him feel so at home. It was as if he had filled a void deep inside himself that he didn't even know he had. He hadn't felt this way in a long time. Her beautiful blue hair blew softly in the light breeze. It was the middle of summer in Sinnoh, and the night was relatively warm. Luckily it didn't feel too hot as the wind seemed to ease the humid air.

Dawn tilted her head upwards and kissed him once more, he responded passionately. It was as if they were letting more and more frustration out with every kiss. It was amazing.

She pulled away and he frowned slightly. "Do you want to come in?" She quietly repeated her words from earlier.

He nodded once more and she opened her door and let him inside. Her apartment was modern and brand new. She had had built it from scratch through a local architect. It was the best idea she'd ever come up with – it allowed her to build a walk in robe the size of a large bedroom. Plus the ensuite she had decided to put in was exactly to her taste. She really loved her apartment.

Paul had never been to her place before, so he was having trouble concealing his amazement at how nice it was. It was a bit too bright for his liking but he figured it was perfect for Dawn.

She placed her bag on her entry table and walked into the kitchen. "Can I get you anything to drink? I have vodka." She stated.

"Yeah that would be good" He said. They had shared the same friends for years but they had never quite seen eye to eye. It was simple, he called her troublesome, and she simply loathed him in return. But tonight things had changed. Even before he had kissed her.

They had been out at Leaf and Gary's House warming. They had been dating for two years and had decided to take the next step – living together. The gang had decided to play truth or dare, and Dawn had been dared to give Paul a lap dance as a joke. As embarrassing as she thought it was, she had done it. Everything had been funny until Paul had cracked it. He seemed furious but he simply said he didn't want to play the game and sat inside for the rest of the night. She was upset; she certainly hadn't wanted to do it. It was just supposed to be funny.

What was worse was that it was because of the whole 'lap dance' incident that Dawn had decided to try and leave a bit early so things wouldn't be so awkward. Apparently Paul had the same idea, so as they both had got up to leave, Ash had insisted that Paul give Dawn a lift home. She sighed as she remembered the death glare Paul had given Ash – who was one of the friends in their little 'group'.

Dawn sighed pouring two glasses of Vodka mixed with orange juice. She was so confused, she certainly needed a drink. She picked up the two glasses and walked over to where Paul was sitting on the couch, handing him one. He offered her a slight smirk as thanks and took a sip of his drink.

"Wow that's strong" he said, his face contorting as if he was eating ten sour lemons.

"Yep, thought it would help with the awkwardness…do you want to talk about earlier yet?" She asked plainly.

Paul glared at her for a moment before he sighed; "No, not really". They each took another sip of their drink, sitting in silence for a few minutes.

"I liked it," Paul said, looking at his glass.

"What?" Dawn said, surely he wasn't talking about earlier? She was silent waiting for him to continue.

"You know what" He said quietly whilst still refusing to look at her.

"You liked my lap dance?" She asked.

"Well I didn't think I did until…" He trailed off still staring into his drink, swirling it around a few times.

"Until what?" She blinked, confused until she realised. "Oh…"

"Yep".

They continued to sip their drinks until Dawn got up to grab the vodka bottle, bringing it over to the couch with them.

She giggled.

"What troublesome?"

"Do you think I'm attractive Paul?" Dawn sat on the couch on her knees now drinking straight vodka out of the bottle.

"No" He said simply.

"Are you sure?" She said with her best seducing voice on.

"No." He said. He mentally slapped himself, "I meant yes".

She had now moved over to him on her hands and knees on the couch, she took a swig of the bottle of vodka and leant in close to his ear.

She whispered, "How sure are you?"

He took a long gulp of vodka then slammed it down on the table standing up. She looked hurt.

"Paul why do you always have to get mad at everything!"

He didn't answer.

"Oh sure you just get mad every time we're joking just like today when we were having fun and I was dared to give you a lap dance then you just up and left because you-" She stopped. Dawn then realised why he had gotten up again and smiled shyly. "Oh."

He once again ignored her and grabbed the bottle of vodka. Talking had never really been his strong point after all. He sculled for a few seconds, still standing. In such a short time, they had already drunk three quarters of the bottle. He slowly walked over to her and handed her the bottle. She too sculled for a few seconds before placing the bottle on the table.

He did the same once again, until the bottle was finished. Dawn wasn't sure what came over her but she just wanted to rip Paul's clothes off. Had he always been this attractive?

She stood up walking slowly towards him.

"Paul when did you get this sexy?" She asked as she began trailing a finger over his chest, undoing the top two buttons.

A low growl came from Paul's throat but he didn't move or say anything, but he certainly didn't try to stop her either. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or not but he was sure he wanted this. Dawn had closed the distance between them, pushing her petite body right up against him, whilst slowly pushing him into the wall behind them. She started placing kisses along his neck before moving slowly to his chest. His head rolled back in delight as she lightly nipped at his skin, slightly sucking and as a result leaving a few little red marks. After Dawn had undone the last button of his shirt, he helped her slide it off his shoulders and push it to the ground. She momentarily stopped, taking in what she saw. Paul was gorgeous! He had a six pack adorning perfectly tanned skin. His snail trail leading downwards, a well-defined V sitting on either side above his jeans; she barely stopped herself from drooling. It's not as if either of them were new to sex, and even though Dawn had seen _a lot_ of good bodies, none of them came close to Paul's. Even sober she would probably admit that he really took care of himself and man was she grateful.

Dawn was snapped from her thoughts as she felt herself being engulfed by two hands and big, strong arms. He easily picked her small form up and placed her on the couch, slowly climbing over her. Their lips reunited in another one of their passionate kisses. It was as if all of her loneliness was being matched by all of his frustration, all of their feelings being placed on the table as they enjoyed every fibre of the other one's being.

It was now Paul's turn to trail kisses down Dawn's neck. His hands roamed her body, gripping every part of her tightly before moving on to another area of her. He allowed her to sit up as he unzipped her dress and pulled it gently over her head. Her hair was now messed up and she looked much better for it. He stopped for a minute to look at her body. She was wearing a black and pink lacy bra with a matching g-string. She looked at him questioningly and he brought his lips to meet her ear.

"You're beautiful," He whispered. Paul didn't allow her to answer; he had already wasted enough time trying not to ravish her right then and there.

He let himself be rolled over so Dawn could take charge on top. She quickly unbuttoned his jeans, leaving a trail of kisses down his stomach just to the edge of his boxers. Standing up, she grabbed his hand and slowly began to lead him to her bedroom.

* * *

The next morning Dawn awoke to the glorious smell of bacon and eggs. As she began to sit up in bed, she automatically let a hand slip to hold her head as if that would stop it from pounding before laying straight back down. Slowly, the events of the previous night started to come back to her, the party, the game of truth or dare, Paul driving her home and the Vodka, her eyes grew wide as she realised that her and Paul had slept together.

"Oh my god," she muttered as she quickly rushed to put some clothes on. Walking out to the kitchen she saw a shirtless Paul, slaving away over the stove.

"Morning," He said, not bothering to look around. "We have, bacon, eggs, toast, baked beans and my speciality, hash browns." He winked as he handed her a plate and smirked.

Dawn smiled; she was surprised. Paul had never been one to show anyone what he was feeling. He was more reserved, and as far as she knew, he was only really comfortable with Gary and his brother Reggie, and even that wasn't a consistent thing. As she was thinking she realised it was nice to see him so carefree and, dare she say, happy for once.

"Thank-you," She said as she started to eat. They ate in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company.

"So, last night was-," Dawn paused trying to think of the right word.

"Fun?" Paul suggested.

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, "it was very fun. But ah, is there anything we should talk about? You know, to prevent things from getting…well awkward."

"Now that you mention it, yes. I haven't had that much fun in such a long time. And dating is just something that never really works out for me," He laughed awkwardly as he continued, "And I know you don't really have the time to date either."

Dawn looked at him questioningly to continue, she wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"I was thinking we could try to be friends with benefits." Paul watched her mouth fall agape, and then close again. She now had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Friends with benefits," She repeated slowly.

"Well, if you wanted to. It's okay if you don't want to it's just that, last night was so relaxed and well I bet even you can't deny that we work pretty well together…if you know what I mean. The point is I'd really like to do this again".

Her face suddenly adorned a sly look. "I see you're point, but I think I might need a little more convincing." She said, trying to supress a giggle.

"Oh really," Paul said as he smirked and leaned over the island bench top towards her. He slowly closed in and kissed her. Then he reached for her empty plate and started to do the dishes, ignoring her completely. She was a bit disappointed that her plan didn't work. Watching him do the dishes, he was almost done with only their cutlery left to clean. She stood up abruptly.

"I think I could use a shower. I feel so-" She paused trying to get a reaction out of him, "dirty."

Paul watched her walk off, slowly sliding her hips from side to side. It took him about 10 seconds to drop what he was doing and follow her to the shower.

They had spent the entire day together, the shower, of course did take up a fair bit of that time. After that they had moved back to the bedroom, later on to the couch, and after ordering pizza for dinner, they may have indulged themselves on the kitchen bench. At 8pm Paul had to leave, he had a heap of work to get done before he had to go back to work Monday.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Dawn said, placing a few kisses on his cheek and jaw bone. It was amazing how much their friendship had changed in the last 24 hours and even more amazing when you considered how well they had both adjusted. It was weird to think that sex would make them all of a sudden get along. She supposed that the more she thought about it, the more she realised that maybe their fights had caused all of this sexual tension that she'd never noticed before.

"I'm positive I don't want to go. But I have to," Paul replied playfully, "But I'll see you in the next few days, maybe I can show you my bedroom ceiling". He kissed her quickly before she could reply and then left her house.

After standing still with a look of surprise on her face, Dawn walked back into the kitchen and sighed, tomorrow was not going to be nearly as much fun. She went to her phone on the kitchen bench and noticed she had a heap of missed calls from Leaf. Placing the phone to her ear, she decided to call her back. After a few rings, the other line was picked up.

"Hey! Where have you been? Are you okay? I've been trying to reach you for hours!" Leaf practically screamed into the phone.

Wincing from the yelling in her ear, Dawn replied, "I'm fine, relax, what's up?"

"No one has heard from Paul since last night, was everything okay when he dropped you off?" Leaf asked, worry shining through her voice.

"Ohh, yeah he was fine," Dawn said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"He's fine," Leaf repeated, disbelievingly.

"Yep".

"And you're not going to complain about him?" Leaf said, her voice coming across as shocked.

Dawn mentally slapped herself, for some reason she just didn't think that Leaf would approve of what her and Paul were doing. Not to mention, her and Paul hadn't discussed whether this was a secret or not. After silently debating with herself about whether or not to tell her, she decided against it and started to think of something that she could complain about. Leaf would know something was up if they suddenly started being nice to each other. If this was to remain a secret they'd have to keep up appearances in front of their friends.

"Well I mean, obviously he's still Paul. He was such a jerk to me in the car. Even after I tried to cut him some slack about the dare thing," Dawn lied.

"Ohh, yeah I wonder what he was so annoyed about," Leaf mused, "Anyway, I really need to get dinner finished, thanks for coming last night. We should go shopping next week. Does Tuesday sound okay?"

"Tuesday's great," Dawn said distractedly, "See you then."

Dawn hanged up the phone and sighed. What was she going to do for the rest of the day?

After contemplating her options, she decided to get a head start on her work for the week. Dawn was an author. She had written a romance series a few years ago that was a huge success. Now she worked on a column in her favourite magazine, Rouge. Before that she had worked on a column in Homes Magazine, which is what had inspired her to build her house from scratch instead of just buying an established property. Currently, Rouge Magazine was not her only column; she wrote political pieces and on occasion a few columns for the romance section as a guest in The Local which was the national Sinnoh Newspaper. These guest columns weren't consistent though as sometimes she would write every day for two weeks, and other times once monthly. She loved her work, however, and appreciated every opportunity she had been presented with.

Sitting down at her laptop, she figured she might as well get writing on her next column. Setting herself up by positioning her chair correctly and organising her keyboard, she started to flick through her old columns. Sure, she had written plenty of columns in her time at Rouge, and she really loved her job, but lately she had just felt so flat in terms of writing. Her last four columns had been on topics for the single woman, she had been so un-inspired. She didn't want to bore her readers, but it had been so hard to talk about love and romance when she just didn't have anything exciting going on in that department.

In a split second, she sat up straight. Something inside her brain had clicked. She could talk about her new found sex friendship. Her eyes were suddenly wide with excitement as she opened up a new blank document and furiously began typing.

After spending at least three hours writing, then editing and re-reading just to double check, it was finally complete and in her opinion, it was pretty damn perfect. For the first time in months she was actually excited to write, she had even spent the previous half an hour writing up mock titles of her upcoming columns. She looked at the words on the page in front of her:

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS

She stifled a laugh. She would nearly die if Paul ever read this. Firstly she had decided to write about how to discuss the agreement with a future sex friend. Secondly, she had thought it would be important to offer advice on rules to put in place. This was something she was definitely going to bring up with Paul when she saw him next. Dawn had finished the article with a list of possible benefits from a sex friend and a few tips on exciting surfaces to take advantage of with your sex friend.

Smiling, she decided it was time to get to bed; after all it was nearly twelve o'clock. She changed and slid under her new Egyptian silk sheets all the while thinking over the events of the past forty-eight hours before slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**_The Next Day_**

Dawn couldn't wipe the grin off her face. She had met up with her editor that morning who had approved all of her ideas to spice up her column. If Dawn wasn't mistaken, her editor had even seemed really excited to see what Dawn's new idea entailed. The new issue of Rouge Magazine was to be released tomorrow, and Dawn had changed her article last minute just in time before the issue went to print. She couldn't wait to see what her readers would think! Dawn usually got a little bit of fan mail, asking for advice and things that they wanted to be incorporated into her column. She wanted to please her readers and now she would be doing just that.

As if that wasn't cool enough, she had gotten a call from the editor of the Local, Wallace, who wanted her to cover starting in two weeks for their business writer who was going on Paternity leave for a month. She was pretty excited about it because lately she had been continuously requested for politics or romance at the Local and it would be nice to do something different for a little while. He hadn't filled her on the details, just that she would be interviewing some up and coming businesses around Sinnoh over the next few weeks week and writing articles on her findings for the paper.

To finish an already glorious day, she decided to go shopping to buy some new work wear as she would need to make a lot more corporate appearances in the upcoming months.

After spending two hours looking around, Dawn decided to stop for a banana smoothie before heading home. Her shopping trip had been quite successful so far, and she had spent a fair bit of money on a new pair of designer shoes and about 5 new work outfits.

On her way out of the mall, she saw a Victoria's Secret Lingerie store. Dawn loved lingerie, but she hadn't been too particular about buying anything new in her recent single months. Smirking to herself, she decided to look inside. After all, she was going to be having a lot more intimate moments with her newly found sexy buddy.

An hour later, Dawn exited the store with 3 big bags full of new lingerie and sleep wear. Laughing to herself, she began to walk back to her car, Paul would definitely not be able to keep his hands off her now.


	2. Chapter 2

Paul brushed a hand through his hair as he walked down Liberty Road. He knew it well, and he particularly liked the route during the summer months. It was a busy road that he frequented most days on his way to work. He wore skinny black pants with black dress shoes, with a white shirt and black blazer. He had decided not to wear a tie today as 'winging it' seemed to be his latest thing. This was unusual considering everything he did was always so calculated; it was kind of a nice change.

He part-owned a marketing firm, his business partner being Gary. They had grown up together and had decided to go into business the year previously. Business was thriving, but they were still in the early phases of hard work. Deep in his thoughts, he looked up and smiled slightly as he came to his regular news stall.

Coming to a halt, he looked at the lady standing behind the small counter. When she saw him, she smiled brightly.

"Paul, you look nice today, you haven't met a girl now have you?" She said handing him some items, "Here is your regular order."

He smiled sincerely, "You know you're the only woman in my life Cecelia," Paul winked at her and she frowned.

"You think you are so charming Paul. Don't think I don't notice the pattern of newspapers and magazines you order. Before this year you used to order _Homes Magazine_ and the _Local_ and now you order _Rouge Magazine_ and the _Local_. It seems we have the same taste in columnists," She finished with a wink and walked back behind the counter.

Paul stood there shocked, and that was a very rare occurrence. How Cecelia knew that he had always bought whichever paper or magazine Dawn had been writing in, he'd never know. He smirked as he continued on walking to work. He couldn't wait to read her new column. He could never figure out why he was so addicted to her writing, all he knew was that he had always enjoyed reading whatever it was she wrote, whether it was about politics, the environment, or as of more recently, romance.

Her romance column had been his favourite for quite some time, he even made a point of taking note of advice that she had given her readers and using it on dates he had been on. No one knew that he had ever followed her writing, except Cecelia who apparently had known all along. Dawn could never know. He'd never live it down if she did.

As he arrived at work, he greeted his receptionist and some of the workers. Gary was already in his office waiting for him.

"Hey," Paul said, as if nothing unusual had happened recently.

"Hey? That's all you have to say for yourself?" Gary questioned stubbornly. "No explanation about the other night? I haven't heard from you in days, it was just a stupid dare. Then you didn't pick up your phone and I never worry but I have been wondering where you were and if you were alive. Leaf couldn't contact Dawn either and we assumed one of you was no longer breathing." He finally finished his rant and looked at Paul expectantly who shrugged.

"I was busy" Paul said as he sat down at his desk.

"And?" Gary questioned.

"And what?" Paul said without look up from the local paper he was now reading.

"Why are you so calm? What did you and Dawn fight about? Who are you and what have you done with Paul?" Gary looked alert, reaching out to check Paul's temperature. Paul swatted his hand away.

"Nothing."

"No, usually you would become brooding Paul who doesn't talk, doesn't smile, and certainly does not simply 'let things go'," Gary said folding his arms expectantly, "Spill it".

"There is nothing to 'spill' I am just happy for once. Is that really a crime? You're always whinging that I need to be more upbeat or whatever so here you go. I'm just taking your advice man," Paul said as he started doing some of the work left for him on his desk.

Gary knew that 'working' Paul was the side of Paul you'd never get an answer out of. With that, he sighed and walked out of the office thoughtfully. Something or someone had changed Paul, and he had a really good feeling he knew who. With that he was off to make a phone call to Leaf to tell her that whatever happened in that car, Paul wasn't going to let up and tell them either.

* * *

After her big day shopping the day previous, Dawn found herself spending her time cleaning her house. It was pretty messy since her and Paul had been there and she wanted it to be clean so she could reorganise her closet to fit all her new outfits from her shopping spree.

As she finished doing the dishes, she let out a satisfied sigh as she realised that she was pretty much finished for the day.

Her phone made a loud beeping sound and she realised she had gotten a text message. Walking over to the bench where it was sitting, she picked up her phone and opened it up to the new message. Dawn instantly smiled as she read.

From: _Paul_  
To: _Dawn_

_Miss me yet? Tonight, my place, 8.00pm?_

Smirking to herself, she wrote back a cheeky reply before running off to her bedroom to prepare for tonight. If they were going to keep doing this, she was going to look her best. If there was one thing she'd learned from this experience so far, it was that she really enjoyed Paul looking speechless.

* * *

Paul was sitting at his desk when his phone vibrated. He looked down at what the message thread had said:

From: _Troublesome  
_To: _Paul_

_Definitely not. How about my place, 7.30pm, if your late, I'm starting without you._

He smirked. She really knew how to get to him; which was part of the reason why he called her Troublesome. The other part being that he found it really amusing when she was annoyed at him, and calling her by her most hated nickname never ceased to annoy her. He was excited already, or at least, as excited as Paul could get which really wasn't that excited. However, she really knew how to tease a man, and with a comment like that he would make sure he was right on time.

Knowing that most of the office staff were out on their lunch break, he reached into his middle draw and pulled out Rouge Magazine. Opening it up to her column, he began to read. His eyes nearly fell out of his head when he realised what the article was about.

"Oh my god." He found himself muttering to himself as he kept reading. Now he was even more excited about tonight, maybe he'd even take her advice and come up with a few rules, he knew he certainly would be taking her up on a few suggested places to indulge your friend with benefits.

When he had finished the article he placed the magazine back in his draw and leant back in his chair. He ran his hands through his hair and then rubbed him over his face. Paul couldn't help but wonder if Dawn would tell him about the article. He guessed she would be too embarrassed to tell him that she used him for inspiration.

He moved his attention back to his laptop as he opened up a new email. He had responded to almost every one of Dawn's columns since she had started at the magazine. It all began when he needed some advice for a date that he had had just before Valentine's Day. He didn't know what the protocol was for dating around that time of year so he figured it couldn't hurt to ask. Paul was proud; he would never think to ask others for romantic advice, so he thought if he did it anonymously maybe it would be a bit easier for him to get some help.

The next day he had been at Gary's when Dawn came in screaming about her first fan email. Paul smirked slightly at the memory. He had never seen her look so happy so every month since then he made sure to email and ask a question or offer praise for her writing under the same pen name.

Paul looked at the blank email on his screen and pondered what he could write about this month.

_Dear Dawn,_

_You never cease to amaze me. I happen to be in a similar situation. Do you think it is okay to spend time together separate from sex? Or should the relationship be kept entirely sexual?_

_Sincerely,_

_Your biggest fan._

He sighed as he pressed send. The irony was that he probably was her biggest fan. He knew Leaf, May and Misty had only started reading when Dawn's column had started in Rouge; and Gary and Ash didn't even know what Rouge was, or Homes Magazine beforehand. The only other person who might have read some of her work was Drew and he probably only stuck to the political and environment articles. Drew was ridiculously smart, which was ironic considering probably the only male model in the world with a degree in chemistry that he never used. Now that he thought of it, they really did have such a random group of friends, not that Paul would ever refer to them as his 'friends' out loud. He just wasn't affectionate like that.

Dawn had asked Paul before if he had read any of her work. He of course would be too embarrassed to admit that he was her number one fan; and had read every single thing she'd ever written, instead he pretended he didn't even know she was a writer. This of course had resulted in another one of their famous arguments.

They had known each other since Leaf befriended Dawn in a community writing class when they were 15 years old. Paul was 17 at the time and when he and Dawn first met. He smirked as he thought back to that day.

_"See Paul, you just aren't good enough to beat me at NBA on Xbox. I think it's time to face facts – you can't touch me because I'm invincible!" Gary yelled the last part as he got up off the couch and pretended to be a super hero with his hands balled up in fists on his hips. His celebration didn't last long, however, because Paul had punched him in the stomach, earning a loud grunt from Gary as he whimpered in pain on the floor._

_"Yeah, but you can't beat me in real life and it's not like you can beat me at any other video games." Paul sat smugly on the couch, he barely even moved when he punched Gary. He was pretty proud of the results, even though he knew Gary was just overreacting. _

_"Gary, you are such a girl," Leaf yelled accusingly as she walked into the lounge of Gary's parent's house. Leaf had long brown hair and green eyes. She always wore her signature green headband too – she was rarely seen without it. Gary and Leaf had known each other since they were born as their parents had always been friends. Paul had met them both when he and his older brother Reggie had moved to Hearthome City from Veilstone city. _

_Paul snorted loudly at the inference of Gary being a girl before he heard Leaf continue._

_"Well this is Dawn; we met in the amateur writing class I've been taking at the community centre. Gary, Paul it would be nice if you put down your controllers for a minute and said hi."_

_Paul and Gary both knew Leafs 'do what I say before I hurt you' voice way to well. They'd learnt by now it was easier to just go along with whatever it was that she wanted. So both boys got up and turned to face this 'Dawn' girl._

_She was pretty short, with long, shiny, midnight blue hair that was held back at the front by two gold clips. She wore a white mini skirt and knee high white boots with a matching white beanie. The only thing that wasn't white was her pink singlet. _

_She seemed shy at first, until Paul and Gary mumbled hellos. Then she appeared to relax a bit. _

_Paul was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Leaf had disappeared and reappeared with two glasses of cranberry juice, one for herself and one for the blue haired girl. Paul couldn't seem to remember what Leaf had said her name was because he was still in the 'gaming' zone at that point._

_Dawn suddenly grew really excited, "Are you guys playing NBA? I love that game oh can I play? Please, please, please?" _

_"What is your name?"_

_"Dawn, my name is Dawn." The girl looked a little disappointed that he hadn't remembered. It hadn't even been two minutes since her name was announced._

_Paul had realised this upset her. So naturally, he pretended to have misheard, "Oh, Dane, I've got it now, thanks."_

_Dawn flushed red as she yelled "DAWN! My name is DAWN. D-A-W-N."_

_In her fury she had stepped forward, not watching where she was going and had tripped on the Xbox controller. Fortunately, she was fine. Not so fortunately, Paul was now covered in cranberry juice. _

_"Oh right. Clearly your name is troublesome." Paul deadpanned as he walked out the door to leave and get cleaned up at home. He was hardly impressed by the behaviour of this new girl. Who did she think she was?_

Paul snapped back to reality as he realised it was nearly time for him to head home. He was hoping to leave a bit earlier to pick up some things for tonight. Nothing special, but he had a late start tomorrow and he knew Dawn's favourite drink was a glass of red wine so he figured they could indulge in some wine together while they indulged in...well...each other.

Before he could leave, he checked that his office was tidy. Checking that his draws were secured, he took another look at Dawn's column before he returned it to his draw. He had always been a big fan of her style of writing. He even read her novels – which were a series of romance books about a vampire falling deeply in love with a human. It was clear that she was talented, especially considering she managed to get him to read and actually enjoy a romance book about vampires. Usually he would never be caught dead reading anything like that. Despite this, reading was one of his favourite pass times. He generally read mystery murder novels or the odd comedy. He even had somewhat of a library in a room in his house filled with all of his favourite books. Sometimes he wondered if he would have enjoyed the 'Twilight' series as much if they weren't written by Dawn. He didn't like to think about that though because he really wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Grabbing his house keys and his wallet, he closed his office door. Before he could leave he quickly popped his head into Gary's office to say goodbye.

"Hey man, I'm heading out early today if that's cool with you? I've already done the prep for our meeting with The Local representative next week."

"Yeah sure, can I ask why the rush?"

"I just wanted to get home early to relax a bit because I am starting late tomorrow, so I wanted to make the most of it," Paul lied.

Gary didn't seem to look like he was buying it but he nodded anyway.

"Sure, want to get a few beers tomorrow after work?"

Paul knew Gary was already on to him, so he decided it was best to say yes rather than let out the fact that he was having amazing sex with Dawn with no strings attached.

"Sure thing, I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

Dawn heard the doorbell ring as she quickly checked her appearance one last time. She smirked to herself, Pauls jaw was sure to hit the ground after the night she had planned.

She opened the door and saw Paul looking very handsome, she wondered if he had put in some extra effort on his appearance before coming to her place.

She silently invited him in and made sure her front door was locked behind them.

"Hey," she purred.

"Hey yourself," Paul replied, his expression remaining stoic.

Dawn frowned slightly, maybe the other morning was just a fluke, and maybe he wasn't going to open up to her like she thought he had begun to do.

"So I brought wine."

She took the bottle from his hands and had a look at what he had brought.

"Pinot Noir? It's my favourite how did you-?" She trailed off, wondering how he knew what she would like. Maybe that was just a coincidence.

The corners of his mouth turned upwards ever so slightly and she was pretty sure that he somehow knew it was her favourite. She smiled to herself as she moved through to the kitchen to pour them both a glass.

As she was pouring the wine she felt two hands touch her hips and wander around to her stomach.

"How was your day?" He whispered against her neck and she felt goose-bumps begin to rise on her skin. He had now started to kiss and nip at her neck and she hadn't even realised that it must have been at least a few minutes since he asked her that question.

Oops, she had gotten distracted; which made sense considering he seemed to know exactly how to distract her.

"It was good; I did a lot of cleaning because I got a lot of work done yesterday and the day before."

"What kind of work did you get done?" He had now stopped kissing her and grabbed the two glasses of wine while leading her over to the couch.

"Well, I felt that my last few columns were just so out of touch with women and what my readers want. So I had this kind of epiphany and I completely changed this month's column and got it in just in time which was lucky. My editor absolutely loved it and I haven't been this excited to write in a while so it's a pretty nice feeling to be getting back into it."

Paul nodded as he took another sip of his drink; he had begun to trail his fingers over dawns palm and up her arm.

Dawn hesitated for a moment. "Hey, umm…do you think it's kind of weird that we don't fight anymore? It's just sort of sudden…you know."

Paul thought about this for a moment. It was true, they hadn't had an argument in days, and they'd spent more time together than well… ever.

"I think we just found a way to make our friendship work."

"I guess. Well at least you don't call me troublesome anymore."

"Oh, I'm not going to stop calling you troublesome, troublesome."

"What?" Dawn shrieked, "Why not?"

"Because you are troublesome," Paul deadpanned.

"I am not!"

"You really are."

"Why do you always have to do this? Once we finally start getting along you just have to ruin everything and make me mad and then you get mad and then we fight and that's never fun for anyone for obvious reasons-" Dawn was cut off from her speech as she realised at some point during her rant Paul had approached her and kissed her. She certainly wasn't going to stop kissing him, especially considering he really knew what he was doing.

"Did I ever tell you how sexy you are when you're mad at me?"

Dawn stopped, completely speechless for a few minutes. He mouth just opening and closing without actually saying anything.

After 5 minutes she finally pulled a sentence together.

"You do it on purpose." It wasn't a question, or an accusation. It was merely a realisation.

"Finally, you are catching up," Paul said as he kissed her again, this time pushing her up against the kitchen bench. He wasted no time in picking her up – which was easy considering she was so light – and placing her on top of the bench while he worked on taking off the loose dress she was wearing. It wasn't overly hard because it was so loose. He briefly wondered if Dawn had intended it to be that way. As he pulled it over her head he stopped what he was doing and took a step back.

Dawn was wearing the sexiest outfit he'd ever seen. Had she done this for him? No one had ever done anything like that for him before.

His mouth was still open as his mind raced with thoughts. Looking at the beautiful woman in front of him he tried to concentrate on what he was doing. The key word there being tried – he was failing miserably at doing anything but stare at her body.

Dawn giggled slightly at this reaction. It was exactly what she had hoped for. She had picked a very skimpy baby-doll top, which doubled as a bra. It was lacy and partially see-through in all the right places. Most importantly, it was purple, nearly the exact shade of purple as Paul's hair. She had matching underwear on – not that there was much of that – and a white garter resting on her high thigh. She had high heels on which added to her apparent sex appeal, which she was grateful for because it made the reach for Paul a bit easy to do considering his height.

She actually loved that he was so tall, it really made things easier. He could just throw her around which he proved the last time they hung out for a day. It certainly kept things interesting that was for sure.

When she began to realise that Paul wasn't going to move anytime soon she repositioned herself on the bench so that her leg adorned with the garter was resting on the stool nearby.

"So are you going to help me out over here or am I going to have to start without you?" She nearly laughed at the thought, but it definitely worked. Paul sprung in to action really fast as he grabbed her, moved her around slightly and held her leg up in front of her. He kept his eyes on hers as he slowly began kissing from her ankles upwards.

Dawn nearly died from suspense as she waited for him to reach her thigh. He still hadn't gotten that far. She let out a squeal while biting her lip.

Paul must have heard because he smirked and continued to kiss her but at a much slower pace. When he finally reached her thigh he carefully caught the garter in his mouth and he slowly began to pull it off her leg. He maintained eye contact with her, and by the time he had gotten it completely off, he removed her shoes.

After such a slow lead up, Dawn let out a yelp of surprise as Paul's lips crashed down on hers as if he was dying and her kiss was the only thing that would bring him back to life. It didn't take long for him to pick her up against him, and carry her to her bedroom.

This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

The crease of light between the curtains was shining through, capturing Dawn's face. The light was slowly edging her awake and she was starting to adjust to her surroundings. It took a minute for her to realise she wasn't wearing any clothes.

Beginning to sit up, she looked around to notice Paul dead asleep next to her, lying face down on his stomach with this face buried in one of her pillows. He was snoring lightly and she nearly giggled out loud. He never looked this peaceful when he was awake, but somehow, while he was dreaming he managed to look so innocent and care-free.

Not wanting to wake up, she carefully climbed out of bed as quietly as she could and began to walk to her ensuite. After brushing her teeth and organising her towels she undressed and stepped into the shower.

The water was cold at first but it quickly adjusted. A nice hot shower was exactly what she felt like. After a few minutes she decided to wash her hair, and once complete began to pour her favourite strawberry body wash onto her loofa. She was so caught up in the noise of the shower that she barely noticed the door open until she felt two hands grab her waist.

Nearly jumping out of her skin she squealed before she realised it was just Paul.

"Paul, you scared me I almost forgot you were here!" Dawn said, sounding relieved as she let out a long breath.

"Well I woke up and realised you were having a shower. Then I realised that you were naked. Then I wondered why the hell I was still in bed thinking about you naked when I could be in here naked with you."

Paul had really been surprising Dawn lately. She was beginning to realise that he could be sweet when he wanted to, it was a side that she was really enjoying getting to know.

She raised a brow as she had an idea. She began to use her strawberry loofa on Paul's chest and laughed out loud when she saw his reaction.

It was a real 'Really? You're actually doing this?' Kind of look. Before she knew it they were slightly wrestling to be under the water and soon after they were just making out in the shower.

_'A girl could get used to this,' _Dawn thought to herself.

* * *

Dawn walked out of the bathroom, her towel wrapped around her body and her dark hair still wet, the steam causing her hair to stick to her neck and collar bone. She felt arms wrapping around her waist and she responded by turning to face her shower buddy.

"Miss me already?" She laughed, raising a brow.

"Mhmm" He managed to mumble as he leaned in to kiss her. It was not even 8am and they had ended up having a morning session in the shower before they had to begin cooking breakfast. Paul, of course was trying to convince her that they had at least five more minutes to spare with unlimited kisses.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – Paul's kisses had worked and they accidentally had round 2 on the floor of Dawn's walk in robe.

They were now lying on the floor together, he was tickling her while she giggled and giggled.

"PAUL!" Dawn squealed in between giggles, "Stop! It's so ticklish!"

He finally stopped as he swept down and placed a peck on her lips.

"Finally, man I'm exhausted and its only just 8am!"

"You and me both, how about this time you get to cook me breakfast? I've always thought you'd be pretty troublesome in the kitchen though so maybe I shouldn't let you," Paul seemed to be honestly considering his options while Dawn looked appalled as she got up whilst securing her towel around her body.

She then had an idea. Slowly, she strutted over to Paul and began to kiss his neck, slightly sucking the skin on his collar bone. She then dropped her towel and started to whisper in Paul's ear.

"Are you sure I'm troublesome?"

"Yes."

"Are you really sure?" Dawn asked again, this time pressing her naked body up against his and trailing her fingers across his lower stomach.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Paul said, he was apparently having trouble concentrating on what she was saying.

"I think you should tell me how good I am in the kitchen." She said as she slowly leaned up to kiss him.

"You…are…such…a…good…cook…mmm," He managed to murmur between kisses.

After that she turned and picked out some clothes as if nothing had ever happened.

Paul was left there speechless. He sighed as he went to get dressed thinking to himself, 'god she's good'.

* * *

Dawn had decided to show off her cooking skills after all, cooking a cute breakfast for two including French toast with maple syrup, and a bacon, egg and spinach wrap to go with. She finished off by presenting Paul with some freshly squeezed orange juice.

"Okay, I'm actually a bit impressed," He said as he swallowed his first mouthful of food.

She laughed, "I told you you'd be impressed by my talents."

"Oh don't worry; I was impressed by your talents well before you cooked breakfast for me."

She blushed a little; Paul wasn't the kind of person to give out compliments. Especially considering in the 8 years that they had known each other the only real time they had talked was when they had been arguing, yelling, or trying to prove the other one wrong.

"So I think we should talk."

"Okay, what about?" Paul replied, although due to her column, he had a feeling where this was going.

"I was thinking we should set some ground rules for this…arrangement."

"I think that's a good idea."

There was a pause as they both thought about what they wanted to say.

Dawn began, "Firstly, I think we should keep this a secret."

"I already thought that was a given but yes, I agree. I think we should be able to see other people without any questions from the other person."

Dawn thought this over for a minute before she nodded, "That sounds fine by me. It's not like we have feelings for each other so that won't be a problem at all."

Paul nodded at that, "Any other rules?"

"Actually, I think there should be one more. I don't think we should do anything 'coupley.'At the end of the day, this is just sex and we are just participating in a brilliant stress reliever because we are both so busy. What do you think?"

"That works for me. I think as long as we are honest with each other at all times we shouldn't have a problem." Paul said as he handed Dawn his plate as she got up to do the dishes. He moved over and sat on one of the stools to talk to her while she was cleaning.

"Actually, there's one more thing we should probably work out. Our friends. I'm pretty sure Gary is already on to us, he was giving me the third degree at the office yesterday."

"Hmm, yeah I think that would make sense. Leaf was grilling me about the car ride the other night. She thought we had a massive fight and killed each other. As for the honesty rule? I like it. "

"How about, when we are with our friends we continue the way we always have been, no talking unless we are arguing?"

"Deal, just remember, anything you say or do can and will be used against you," Dawn winked before continuing, "maybe next time I'll dress up as a cop."

Paul nearly drooled at the thought. "I have to go soon, it's nearly 10am and I have to be at work by 11. Can I see you again soon?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Call me when you want to hang out."

Dawn walked Paul to the door and he swept her up in arms and kissed her.

"Okay this time I really need to go."

Dawn pouted, she really just wanted him to come back to the bedroom and ravish her right there and then.

"I'll make it up to you next time," he whispered, as he offered her one last peck on the lips and left.

Dawn sighed. What was she going to do all day?

She perked up when she heard her phone ringing, it was Leaf. She instantly regretted putting the phone to her ear as she heard screeching at the other end of the phone.

"DAWN! Where have you been? May and Misty are here with me waiting for you?"

Shoot. She had forgotten about her shopping date with Leaf.

"I'm so sorry, I got held up but I'm leaving now I promise I'll see you soon."

"What could possibly have held you up?"

"Oh, ummm I got writing my next column and I kind of got in the zone and lost track of time. I'm walking out the door right now I promise," Dawn lied; she was going to have to get better at this if she was going to keep her dirty little secret.

"Okay then, it's cool we will get a smoothie while we wait. We'll see you when you get here." Leaf stated before she hung up the phone.

Dawn quickly grabbed her car keys and her new Gucci purse and ran out the door, being sure to lock it behind her. She got in, started the ignition and sped off to meet the girls.


	3. Chapter 3

Leaf was sitting with Misty and May, who were the other two members of their girl group. The girls had met Misty and May back at a work function of Leaf's a few years prior. She was a lawyer at one of the top law firms in all of Sinnoh. Because of this they always held massive work parties where lots of clients were invited as well as staff. Misty and May had gotten the invitation through a friend of theirs and when the four of them met they became fast friends.

"Finally, I'm here...I'm so…sorry," Dawn panted as she ran up to hug each girl.

"Don't even worry about it Dawn, we've missed you!" May replied as Dawn got around to hugging her last.

"Yeah, we really have, life is a bit boring when you're not in it. We were sad you left Leaf and Gary's house warming party so early on the weekend," Misty agreed.

"Yeah, don't even get me started," Dawn said, trying to avoid the topic as well as try to come across as annoyed about what had happened at the end of the night.

Leaf was eyeing her suspiciously but didn't comment on it. "Okay girls, are you ready for some serious shopping?" She said enthusiastically.

They were all in their early 20s, yet it seemed like they were all still 16 with their childish antics sometimes. Dawn liked it that way though, it was pretty cool that she had friends that weren't always serious and mature, yet they could still be adults when it was necessary. They were the best kind of friends in her opinion.

"So where do you guys want to look first?" May asked, she was probably only asking so she could gage how long it would take to get to lunch.

"Actually, Ash's birthday is coming up, it's still a while away but I don't like shopping that much as you already know so we may as well look for a nice dress to wear now. At least then I can be the supportive and somewhat dressed up girlfriend for the night." Misty said, she wasn't particularly girly so she wasn't a fan of looking at clothes for hours on end but she wanted to come and check that Dawn was okay after what happened on the weekend. Leaf had told her and May that Dawn seemed touchy about the subject while they were waiting for her to show up.

Dawn and Leaf squealed.

"Yaaaayyyy, I can't wait to put you in a dress Misty!" Dawn practically yelled, getting a few 'odd' looks from the people around them. It was a well-known fact that Dawn loved shopping more than life itself, and Leaf was certainly a close second in terms of shopping enthusiasm.

With that, they rushed off after Dawn who had ran into a nearby dress store. It looked expensive but the three knew better to argue with Dawn about where to shop.

* * *

"Guys, I'm soooooooooooo hungry," May whined.

"May it's only been two hours since we started. Give us another half an hour so Misty can finish trying on these dresses and then we can get some food." Leaf replied, they knew when May started to whinge about food that they were going to have to comply before she went into full drama queen mode yelling loudly about how she was dying. It had happened before and they really didn't want it to happen again.

"Okay, what do you guys think of this one?" Misty could've sworn she'd tried on a billion dresses already.

Dawn looked at her closely and made her turn around slightly so she could see all angles. All of a sudden her eyes began to shine and she squealed in delight.

"Misty! It's perfect!" Dawn screamed. The dress was black and came up to her high thighs. The top of the dress was cut high at the front and had a low cut at the back.

Misty looked back in the mirror, it was understated – which was definitely her kind of outfit – she just wasn't into dressing up much. On occasion she thought it was fun but she much preferred wearing shorts and a tank top. She had to admit though, it did look quite good on her, and she really wanted to 'woo' Ash. He was such a street smart guy, unless it came to women. With women he was sooo incredibly stupid. She was surprised he'd even managed to tell her he liked her.

They had been together for 6 years now, and she couldn't be happier. But because they were so familiar and he didn't always understand relationships and feelings, she liked to do things like dress up for his birthday so she could still get a reaction out of him every now and then. It had worked well so far, that was for sure.

"Great, I'll take it," she said simply as she walked back in to get changed into her normal clothes.

"WOO!" May screamed loudly, "Now we can get food! YEAH!" She punched the air with her fist, which really showed how excited she was.

The girls sweat dropped, but at least they had done enough shopping to work up a bit of an appetite.

"Great, let's eat then, I saw this new cool café down the corner that we could check it out if you guys wanted?" Leaf suggested. Upon hearing mumbled "mm's" in agreement she led the way to the café.

* * *

Gary was freaking out. He had known Paul for years, but something was definitely different. As far as he knew, the only girl he ever flirted with was Cecilia – who, let's face it was certainly no 'girl' – but a woman of significant age who Paul put on the charm for because she was very sweet. He knew there was nothing behind that affection. However what he had just witnessed, was a happy Paul. As he had walked in to the office he began reeling off compliments at every girl he passed.

"You look nice today Mel," and "Wow nice lipstick, Bianca," and "Emily, could you send this file down to IT for me?" He winked at the girl, handing over the file to her.

Gary didn't even realise there was such a thing as a happy Paul, but he was pretty sure that this was as close as it was going to get. Sure, he knew that Paul could be happy, but not like today, not where he showed how happy he was to everyone that walked by. By the time Paul got to Gary he walked straight up to him and gave him a high five. He actually high fived him. Gary thought he would faint at that point.

It had become kind of a running joke over the years, back when they were younger. Gary had kicked an awesome goal in their school soccer team, and he had gone to Paul screaming and asking for a high five. Paul had straight our refused, without even saying no. He simply stared back at Gary then walked away without even muttering a 'congratulations'.

Paul had always been that way. It was only since they got older that he had gotten a bit better with his people skills. But even so, a bit better was certainly not "good".

Ever since Paul had refused his high five, Gary had made it his mission in life to one day get the Holy Grail – that was a high five from Paul.

But today it happened. And Gary was speechless.

That had been a good hour ago though, and he was finally coming around to his senses after standing there like an idiot with his mouth open for pretty much the whole time since it happened. "Alright, time to go visit Paul's office," he muttered to no one in particular.

* * *

_Paul had stayed true to his word and gone out for a beer with Gary after work. Their other friends Ash and Drew had managed to get an invite and decided to tag along. _

_Paul wasn't really concentrating on where they were going, until Gary stopped them and let them into some bar called Kittens._

_He didn't think much of it at first, mainly because he wasn't really paying attention – until he got inside. They were at a strip club. _

_"Really?" Paul asked Gary with a tone of disbelief. "Leaf will kill you if she finds you here."_

_"Yeah well she'll get over it. It's just beers with the boys and of course, a little entertainment."_

_"Yeah sure, Paul muttered."_

_Ash looked extremely uncomfortable at this venue, he was undoubtedly thinking about Misty trying to kill him later with her mallet that she seemed to miraculously pull from nowhere. Hell, she was that tough that she could probably take on all four of the boys alone if she wanted to._

_Drew came up behind Paul and handed him a beer._

_"Hey man, I'm glad you came. I haven't seen you since the weekend."_

_Paul ignored this question and stared blankly at Drew. He had gotten the message. That was part of the reason why Paul actually liked Drew, they had a similar thought process. Besides that, Drew didn't seem to mind that Paul preferred to be silent. It was almost as if they could read each others minds at times. "C'mon, let me buy you a lap dance." Drew had said as he pushed Paul towards the front row chairs to the stage._

_"I'm really not into this stuff, you know that," he tried to argue but it seemed that he was all of a sudden pushed into a chair with a girl dancing in front of him on the stage._

_He quickly revered though as he began to stare at the girl on the stage. He had to admit, she was mesmerizing. She had porcelain-white legs with a blue mini skirt. As she danced around the pole in front of him, he realised that she was actually dressed as a cop._

_He couldn't take his eyes off her. She was dancing and he could not get enough. Maybe it was her body, or maybe it was her outfit, or maybe, just maybe, it was her midnight blue hair._

_'Wait a minute,' Paul thought, 'it can't be'._

_Sure enough, the girl turned around to reveal her face, and he saw that it was Dawn that was up in front of him, dancing for him. He could not think of anything hotter at that point. He could barely concentrate; he even had to loosen his tie a little because he was finding it extremely hard to breathe._

_She slowly moved down the steps and came over to him. Even more slowly, she climbed onto his lap and started to move._

_"Dawn what are you doing?" Had he just called her Dawn? He couldn't figure out why, it was like he had no control over what he was saying while he tried his best to supress a moan._

_"Paul," She said in a sing song voice._

_"Dawn," He whispered._

_"Paul," She sang again._

"Paul, wake up." All of a sudden reality hit him and he began to open his eyes. He must have fallen asleep at work, which looked really bad considering he was the boss.

"You? Sleeping at work? That is the strangest thing I've ever seen," Reggie said as he sat on Paul's desk, just assuming that it was okay that he sat there.

"I have chairs you know Reggie, that's what they are there for."

"Yeah but that wouldn't be any fun," Reggie replied, "Besides, we have much more important things to discuss."

"Like?"

"Like the fact that you were just yelling out Dawn in your sleep."

Paul nearly fell off his chair at the mention. That was embarrassing. His brother was the one person who could read him like a book. Not to mention, he really needed to make sure he never falls asleep at work again, if Gary had have heard he would never live it down.

"Well at least you didn't try to deny it," Reggie continued, "It must have been a pretty good dream little bro," he winked and nudged Paul as he got up and moved around to the seats in the office.

Paul seemed to flush a little pink at this, which prompted Reggie to grin like a Cheshire cat.

"Shut up." Paul snapped.

"Oh, wow. What are you not telling me?" Reggie basically screamed. Paul immediately got up and closed his office door.

"Look there's nothing to tell, but do not tell Gary about this. I'm asking as a favour."

"Are you sure, little bro? Because Gary called me, apparently he is 'worried' about you. Because you high fived him after all this time. I was so concerned that I immediately dropped what I was doing at work and ran here so yeah, here I am." Reggie stated simply.

"I'm just in a good mood is it really that bad?"

Reggie looked at Paul, maintaining eye contact for a full minute before saying anything. It was like he was attempting to reach into his soul. The two brothers had always been opposites so Paul had always found it annoying that his brother was just so happy go lucky all the time. Kind of like how Ash was.

After finishing their staring contest, Reggie's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Reggie, no." Paul said very firmly.

"Oh my god." Reggie said in disbelief, his eyes still glowing with happiness.

"Reggie, I mean it."

"You had sex with Dawn!"

Paul couldn't even comprehend what just happened. How could he possibly know that? Man his brother was good. He thought he was going to assume that he liked Dawn, which was clearly far from the truth but this was so much worse. It was too late to deny it too, Reggie could read him better than anyone, and he knew that stunning Paul meant that you had said something unexpected that was most likely true. It was rare, but every now and then it happened.

"It's not what you think." Paul began to defend himself.

"Sure it's not."

"Look Reggie, whatever you do, do not tell Gary about this. If you promise not to tell him, I'll explain what is going on."

Reggie seemed to ponder this for a moment before nodding.

"Okay, so yes. That…ahem…happened. And then it kind of happened again. And well…again and now we are friends with benefits. But the point of it is that we are just friends, who get to relieve some stress and we aren't allowed to tell anyone so you are not allowed to know this."

"Wow, I am excited for you bro. You're always so tense about time you got some."

"Really," Paul stated as he rubbed a hand over his face.

At this point Gary entered the room and looked expectantly at Reggie as he gave him a man hug,

"Hey man, it's good to see you! Did you sort Paul out?" He asked the other purple haired brother.

Reggie gave Paul a sly look and he silently hoped that he wouldn't tell Gary anything.

"Yep, he's all sorted, just needed a good talk with his big bro. Don't worry too much about the whole happiness thing, I can guarantee you that it's not going anywhere. I have to get back to the day care centre; I'll catch you guys later?"

"Yeah, whatever." Paul said, relieved that that was finally over.

"Finally my best friend is back. Kind of," Gary said before he left to go back to his office. They would see each other later when they went out for after work drinks anyway.

Paul began to think of his dream again and pulled out his phone to send a message.

* * *

"Oh my god, I am so full," Leaf said as she let out a contented sigh.

"Yeah me too, I'm so glad we picked this place, the food here is amazing," Misty agreed.

"Mmmm and the cake," May said, basically drooling as she continued to spoon the rest of the food into her mouth. It was like she had a bottomless stomach.

Dawn laughed at her friend when she heard a beep from her purse. Pulling out her phone she smiled as she received a message.

To _Dawn_

From _Paul_

_Troublesome, you're killing me here. You've even got me falling asleep at work and dreaming about you dressed as a cop giving me a strip tease. _

She thought for a moment trying to decide what to write back. She nearly giggled when she decided on a response.

To _Paul_

From _Dawn_

_If you play your cards right I might just make that dream a reality ;)_

After she sent a reply she put her phone away only to look up and realise that her three friends were staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

They all stared at her for another moment before changing the subject. They were onto her, and Dawn knew it. She quickly grabbed her phone back out and realised that Paul had replied.

To _Dawn_

From_ Paul_

_Don't tempt me. I'm looking forward to our next hang out session_

Dawn quickly typed a response and put her phone away as soon as possible.

To _Paul_

From_ Dawn_

_The girls are onto us. We need to fight. And soon._

Dawn was worried. The girls would not approve of what she was doing, particularly Leaf, who kept trying to encourage Dawn to find a nice guy to date. They didn't understand the Dawn didn't want to date, she didn't have the time and she just wanted to have fun. Not to mention she really didn't want to get hurt again like she did with her last boyfriend, Lucas.

Dawn was pulled out of her thoughts when Leaf spoke up.

"Hey, Gary just messaged me and invited us to meet up with them for drinks later. You want to go?"

All three girls all agreed to go. Secretly, Dawn was relieved. This would be the perfect place for her and Paul to convince everyone that they were not okay with each other.

* * *

Paul received the message and frowned. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, he kind of wished that their friends would just stop prying into his business. He sighed as he looked at the time, it was nearly 6 and Gary would want to leave soon. He packed up his stuff and walked over to Gary's office.

* * *

Paul, Gary, and Ash were sitting at a table in the sun outside The Elephant and the Lion – a bar that was just around the corner from the boys' marketing firm. They had all met there, with the exception of Paul and Gary who had walked there together.

"And finally we have beers, what'd I miss?" Drew asked as he placed the carry tray on the table and handed out the beers to each of the guys before taking his seat in between Gary and Ash.

"Oh the conversation's riveting," Paul deadpanned as he rolled his eyes. Gary and Ash had been discussing whether they would prefer to have an extra toe or an extra finger, if they had to choose.

"But I'm just saying, if I had an extra finger, I could fit more food in my hands, which means I could eat more, and _that _my friends would be awesome," Ash stated like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Yeah you could eat more, but at least an extra toe could be concealed, chicks would never dig me if they realised I had an extra digit to tickle them with," Gary retorted.

"Dude, you've been with Leaf for 2 years, I think it's time you start moving on, chicks won't be digging you ever again while she's around to kill them with her death glare. Not to mention, you managed to find a girl to put up with you, don't do anything stupid to screw it up," Drew chastised as he whacked Gary over the head.

"Ow," he complained, "At least I'm in a relationship, if I have to listen to you and May go at it one more time I think I'm going to kill you both. It's like neither of you are adult enough to admit you like each other, so you both keep trying to out-do each other to try and prove you aren't into each other. That in turn just proves to the rest of the world how into each other you really are."

That shut Drew up. They all knew that Gary had never cared more about a girl. Leaf was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he knew it, but Gary rarely got serious about anything so he only ever played that card when he felt like proving a point to someone. It usually worked too.

Paul smirked, they were always like this. He mostly liked to sit on the sidelines and enjoy the show.

"I don't like May. Jeez," He finally said, but a quiet Drew was the kind of Drew who knew he had been owned.

"I'm sooooo hungry!" Ash whined, breaking the tension radiating off Drew, after that everything switched straight back to normal.

"You're always hungry," Drew pointed out.

"Yeah but now I think if I don't eat I might die!"

"Well I guess we can order, but the girls are going to kill us if they get here and realise we didn't wait for them," Gary said.

That got Paul's attention. "What? Since when are they coming?"

"Since I invited them earlier, why? Dude when are you going to tell me what happened the other night?" He replied.

Before Paul could say an ear piercing scream came, grabbing all of the guys' attention.

"WHAT!" May shrieked, " YOU NEVER TOLD ME GRASSHEAD WAS GOING TO BE HERE!"

She was screaming at Leaf who was trying not to laugh as Misty and Dawn held May back like she was an attack dog ready to pounce.

"You'll be fine May. Besides, we all know you secretly love it," Leaf said as she walked closer to the guys, "Hey, how are we all?" She had taken up residence on Gary's lap sliding comfortably on him as if they were the perfect fit. They kind of were, they just seemed so right together and although they were far from a relatively 'normal' couple, they had their own charm which their friends could appreciate.

"Yeah we are doing better than February over there," Drew said as the boys snickered. Gary immediately stopped laughing when he saw Leaf's death glare.

By this time, the others had come over.

"What did you call me?" May asked angrily while towering over Drew.

He kept his cool though, merely flicking his hair and saying "by your name, you are June aren't you?"

"Argh! Why do all you people actually like this guy," she said sulkily as she sat down at the table grumpily. Her mood didn't last long, however as she saw the menu sitting on the table in front of her and she began to drool at the thought of what to pick.

Drew, who had been watching her the entire time, smirked slightly as he shook his head. He loved that she was so easy to get a reaction out of. At the same time, he also loved how easily she got distracted; it was like she had the attention span of a lamp.

In the meantime, Gary and Leaf had done nothing but focus directly on Paul and Dawn, who had both been standing awkwardly near each other. They were watching carefully to see if they could get an idea of what had happened between the two, if anything.

May stood up abruptly once she had decided what she wanted to eat. However her quick movements had accidentally pushed Dawn into Paul. The two looked at each other in shock before realising they needed to do something to keep the appearance of normality.

"Really troublesome? It's like you have two left feet," Paul began as he glared down at her. For a moment she looked at him in disbelief before she realised that he was playing the game to deter their friends. She quickly gathered herself, determined to make it look believable.

"I do not! It's not my fault you weren't watching and couldn't move out of the way!"

"Pfft, I can't control where you fall. Maybe you should pay more attention." Paul remained relatively calm, it was a rare day to see him raise his voice, even when he argued with Dawn he replied in a monotone, yelling just wasn't his thing.

"You are unbelievable."

"And you are troublesome.

"Stop calling me that! At least I'm not a heartless jerk!" She instantly regretted saying that, it seemed like he had visibly recoiled, if only for a second. He then turned his back as he went back to his seat, ignoring Dawn completely for the rest of the night.

Gary, Leaf and the others had watched the argument unfold with great interest; it was clear that whatever happened wasn't good. They figured it could have been worse; at least they were staying out of each other's way for the night so their outing wasn't ruined.

After they had all finished dinner abruptly stood from the table and looked at Gary.

"See you tomorrow," He said before walking off to get a cab as he had had too much to drink and would not be capable of driving.

Dawn watched carefully as he up and left. When he didn't even glance her way she felt really sad. She hadn't mean to upset him, she had just wanted her friends to lay off for a while. It wasn't like what they did was any of their business anyway.

"Dawn are you okay?" Misty whispered as they were sitting next to each other. The others were talking amongst themselves and Misty had been really worried about Dawn all night after she saw her argument with Paul an hour or two previously.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm great," Dawn replied, putting on a big smile.

"It's okay, no one's listening if you want to talk." Misty looked hopeful as it seemed Dawn was inwardly battling to decide whether she should talk or not.

After deciding not to say anything she plastered another smile on her face. "Nah it's nothing. No need to worry right?"

Misty nodded at her, "Well if you do change your mind, I am really good at keeping secrets and I'm a really non-biased listener."

"I know, thanks Mist." This time there was a genuine smile on Dawn's lips. She sighed as she gathered her back and decided to go home, she wasn't going to be any fun after what happened earlier.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna head home, I've got a big meeting at the Local tomorrow. I'll catch you guys later."

Leaf and Gary exchanged worried glances as they watched her go. They figured it was useless. Paul and Dawn were two of the most stubborn people they'd ever met; clearly neither of them were going to talk so they figured they would just let it go. For now.

Dawn had to cross the road to hail a cab. Hearthome was a busy city so it was always pretty easy to find one.

She settled into the back seat and the driver asked her where she was headed. In a split second she made a decision. She was going to Paul's house.

* * *

Dawn stood still, staring in awe at the building before her. She had never been to Paul's place before, but she had driven Leaf and the others to drop them off a few times before.

She let out a breath as she stared at the beautiful high rise building in front of her. She knew which number his apartment was but she'd have to ask the receptionist which floor she was supposed to go to.

Slowly, she began to walk up the steps to the entry doors. After walking through the automatic doors, she looked around at her surroundings. The reception room was not overly big, but it was nice with wooden floors and bright red walls.

"Can I help you?" The lady at the reception desk asked.

"Umm, yes actually. I am looking for a friend's apartment, I know the number but I don't know which floor it's on and I was hoping you could tell me. It's number 513."

The receptionist looked surprised and Dawn couldn't help but wonder if she knew Paul well.

"Yes, you just need to go up to floor 15. There is an escort who will take you up in a minute."

Dawn nodded, "Thanks."

A man dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and black tie to match walked over to her. "Follow me ma'am".

As they entered the elevator, Dawn thought about what she was going to say. She had stopped at the convenience store before she came to pick something up for them and she was hoping it was enough to get him to forgive her.

"Welcome to the Penthouse." The security escort announced.

Before she could even process the fact that Paul lived in the penthouse, the elevator opened and she entered a hall with a door at the end. Taking a deep breath in, she knocked twice.

There was some shuffling on the other side of the door before she heard the lock click and it began to open.

Paul stood in front of her, shirtless with a pair of grey trackies with his hair slightly damp. He must have just gotten out of the shower. Usually, that would have distracted Dawn, however she was so worried that she'd upset Paul that she didn't want to waste time.

"Paul I'm so sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to upset you and I only said it because I was trying to show the others that nothing had changed."

Paul stared at her for a long moment before standing back and gesturing for her to come in.

Dawn walked in and looked around. The place was huge. There was a big lounge room with giant glass windows looking out over the city. The lounge and kitchen seemed to be one big room, and there looked like there was a hall down the back, probably with Paul's bedroom and bathroom. The décor was very plain with a white and grey colour scheme and very basic furniture. _'It's very Paul,'_ she thought.

"Wow. This place is so nice," she whispered.

Paul still hadn't said anything, but he had closed the door and was standing awkwardly behind Dawn, watching her as she looked around.

"Are you going to talk to me?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Paul, I said I'm sorry, and I promise I didn't mean it. How long are you going to stay mad at me?"

"I'm not mad."

"Well you seem kind of down. I really am sorry."

"It's okay," He replied. Dawn looked heartbroken; she really hadn't meant to upset him and even though he said he was okay, he didn't look it.

Slowly she put her bag and the items she had purchased down on the kitchen bench and walked over to him.

He continued to watch her as she came closer to him and then enveloped him in a hug. After a minute or so he put his arms around her and slightly hugged her back.

The problem wasn't her. That's not why he felt bad. He knew it wasn't her fault, but explaining why her words had got to him would be so much harder, and Paul hated talking about his feelings. He wasn't even sure how she'd managed to unconsciously get him to ever so slightly open up to her in the last week. He hated feeling vulnerable, it made him weak and out of all the possible feelings in the world, feeling weak was his most hated.

They must have stood like that for at least 15 minutes before Dawn finally pulled away but kept her arms around his torso. After looking into his eyes and realising something still wasn't right, she grabbed his hand and led him over to the kitchen bench. He sat down on one of the stools as she went and retrieved the plastic bag she had brought with her.

Setting it on the bench she went behind the bench and grabbed two spoons out of his top draw.

He watched her silently as she organised herself, sitting on his kitchen bench with her feet resting on the stool right next to him.

Without saying a word, she pulled out the items she had brought with her and set them up on the bench.

Handing him a spoon, she got her own and dipped into the jar of Nutella, then put the whole thing in her mouth whilst letting out a content sigh. After that, she grabbed an Oreo cookie and tipped into the jar of peanut butter she had brought with her.

Paul wondered where she had possibly got the idea of eating Oreos with peanut butter. He then picked up the Nutella jar and inspected it closely. He had never tasted it before as he had never been a big fan of dessert foods. After debating whether he should try it or not he reached in and pulled out a spoonful of the chocolate-y coloured paste.

When he put the spoon in his mouth he opened his eyes widely in surprise. Nutella tasted brilliant, how had he managed to never try it before?

After dipping his spoon in a second time he looked up at Dawn, who was chewing another Oreo while staring out at the city below them.

It seemed that she never ceased to surprise him. Before they had begun to get along, he had always thought she was an uncontrollable loud mouth that would never stop talking or moving. But now he realised that she seemed to have a lot of other qualities too. The fact that she was perfectly happy sitting with him in absolute silence really shocked him. It was like she knew exactly how he felt while also understanding that he wasn't comfortable opening up to people and talking about things.

"I've never tried this before," he eventually said while dipping his spoon in again.

Dawn seemed surprised that he was beginning to talk but happily obliged. "Really? My dad used to bring it home whenever I was sad and we would eat it straight out of the jar and talk about the most random things. It was like he was trying to distract me with Nutella but it would always work; he'd always make me feel better." There was a slight pause as she dipped her spoon back into the jar and swirled it around a bit. "This is actually the first time I've done this with anyone else since he died. It just seemed like something that would be so hard to share. It's kind of funny actually, I was trying to think of something that I could bring that would cheer you up until I realised I had never even seen you eat sweets before. So then I asked myself 'what would cheer me up if I was feeling down?' and I just thought that I would share this with you."

Paul stared at her for a moment in awe. She was sharing something that meant a lot to her with him of all people? He couldn't help but feel really warm, he didn't know exactly what the feeling was but it felt really…nice for once. He understood how she was feeling, and it seemed she understood him too. He felt himself gain quite a bit of respect for her in that moment.

"How did he die?" He asked quietly.

"He died a hero at war. He saved a little girl from being gunned down and he died in her place. I was devastated. But at the same time I guess I've never been so proud of anyone in my entire life." She was staring solemnly out the window and Paul wondered how she could tell him that so easily.

"How long has it been?"

"10 years. But it seems like just yesterday. It's weird, sometimes when I go back home to Twinleaf I still think he's going to walk back through the door with a jar of Nutella and two spoons."

"I know how you feel. My mother passed away from cancer when I was seven years old. I don't think it's something you ever get over."

Dawn stopped what she was doing and stared at Paul. Had he just told her something personal about himself? He trusted her. Maybe not fully, but he trusted her enough to tell her something that was important to him and that was good enough for her.

"No; you don't," She said, her lips curling upwards ever so slightly.

"My dad walked out on us when we were young. I never met him, but my mother and Reggie always said he was a heartless bastard."

Realisation hit Dawn; he was telling her why he was upset. She knew if she made a big deal out of it he might not tell her anything every again so she simply reached over and held his hand in hers.

After sitting in silence for another few minutes, Paul smirked at Dawn. She looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"You have Nutella on your face."

Embarrassed, she reached her hand to her mouth and wiped it, asking "Did I get it?"

"Nope, you missed it."

She began to rub her face again, "how about now?"

"It's still there. Here, allow me," He said as he reached towards her. At the last second he grabbed his spoon held it to Dawn's cheek, leaving a line of Nutella in its tracks.

She opened her mouth widely as she grabbed her spoon and wiped a little bit on his chin.

He grabbed some more and put some on her other cheek, and after that they had declared war as they ran around his apartment after each other screaming like children.

After she realised she wouldn't be able to catch him she put her spoon down and he followed suit before grabbing her and tickling her until she was laughing uncontrollably.

"Paul!" She screamed. He eventually stopped and they stood staring into each other's eyes for a minute before he gently leant down and kissed her cheek, licking the Nutella off her. After a second he moved to her other cheek and did the same before slowly kissing her lips.

Dawn decided to take advantage of the fact that there was a half-naked Paul kissing her and licked the Nutella off his chin, before kissing his chest. After a minute she pulled away.

"Hey you never showed me around your apartment."

He grabbed her hand as he led her down the hall, "well you've seen the kitchen and the lounge. Down here on the left is the first bathroom. This second room is a bedroom", Dawn took a quick peak in each as he mentioned them. "In there is just a closet so don't worry about that one, it's just random stuff, and down here on the end is my bedroom."

For a minute she stood in the doorway just seeing how Paul liked to keep things. He stood behind her with his arms around her and his head resting on her shoulder.

It was a pretty cool bedroom, with a widescreen TV on one of the walls. Directly opposite the TV was his double bed and on one of the side walls there was a door which led to his ensuite and walk in robe. On the opposite side was another giant glass window with some white curtains hanging so people in other buildings couldn't see in.

She pulled away from Paul to check out his closet. He stood at the door for a moment before he heard her laugh loudly.

"What's wrong?"

"Paul, your closet is huge and yet it's so empty." There was a few clothes hanging and some draws underneath, with a fair bit of space on the other side of it.

"Yeah well what exactly did you have me pegged for? Some kind of diva?" Paul said it with the straightest face and in a monotone, which left Dawn to laugh again.

"Good point….Well then, I guess there's only one place left to check out." Paul's eyes widened for a second and he was about to open his mouth when Dawn cut him off, whispering, "Your bedroom ceiling."

Paul relaxed after she said that, before picking Dawn up and chucking her over his shoulder while she screamed. He smirked as he threw her down on the bed before whispering in her ear "It's a really good ceiling."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hey party people. I once again don't like intro notes but this chapter is dedicated to theasianwonder who left me the best review ever. I took your advice into consideration and I agree, I think I did make May and Drew look childish. I have amended this with reasoning in this chapter. Lots of Contestshipping just for you. Enjoy. **_

Dawn awoke to a room full of light coming from outside. She took a minute to stretch before opening her eyes. What she saw was beautiful, she'd nearly forgotten where she was until she realised that she was staring out at the buildings surrounding Hearthome. She turned on her side and stared for a while before deciding it was time to get up. She wasn't sure where Paul was so she figured she'd find him before taking a shower.

She was about to take the doona off her when she realised that she was completely naked.

"Oops," she muttered before searching around the room. She saw Paul's shirt from the day before and decided to put that on over her underwear then left the room without putting pants on.

"Hey, I was wondering when you'd awaken," Paul said without looking up, he was eating an omelette on the couch, she noticed there was another plate sitting on the bench with a knife and fork so she grabbed it and went to sit next to him.

"It took me a second to realise where I was when I woke up, but then I remembered that I was in your apartment and well then it took me a while to walk away from the beautiful view," she said sheepishly before taking a bite of her food.

She looked up when she heard a 'clang' and noticed that Paul had dropped his fork on his plate and was staring at her with his mouth open.

Feeling a little self-conscious she asked, "what?"

"That's my shirt."

"I know…so? I just figured it would be comfortable before I get dressed to go."

He stared at her for another minute before quickly grabbing her plate and putting both of them on the table before pulling her on top of him.

It wasn't long before they were both completely naked on the couch panting.

"Well that was a surprise," Dawn said, she was still on top of Paul after their session. She gave him a kiss and started to put his shirt back on.

"Troublesome, if you put that back on I don't think im going to be able to control myself."

She giggled as she put the shirt half on and got up to walk to the shower. She had it hanging half off her shoulder as she looked back at him. "Are you coming?"

She had just rounded the corner to the hall leading to his bedroom when she felt two hands grab her and press her up against the wall.

They continued kissing as they stumbled to walk to his bedroom, he was still completely naked and he wasted no time in making sure what little clothing she was wearing was on the floor again.

After reaching the door of his bedroom he picked her up in one swift move, wrapping her legs around him. He quickly put the water on in the shower while still holding her up and stepped in.

"Mmmmm Paul," She moaned quite loudly. It was the first time she had ever said his name while they were getting intimate. That did it. He roughly pushed her up against the glass wall of his shower while he kissed and sucked at her neck.

The support of the wall made it even easier for him to hold her up and she moaned in delight as he pressed his palm to her breast. They were starting to get a lot more daring around each other and she was beginning to make sounds he hadn't heard her make yet.

After they had finished their second session of the morning Paul had a look of pride cross his face as he kissed her passionately. They stood back under the warm water and he cuddled her gently as she regained her breath.

"I'm not going to lie, when you say my name you drive me mental…but in the good way."

She moved her head so her chin was sitting on his chest as she looked up at him, "you should never have told me that," she joked, "now I'm going to say it all the time to turn you on."

He smirked back and she looked around his shower. "Where's your loofa?"

"I don't have one."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not a woman."

Dawn frowned, "well now I'm sad, I love my morning loofa ritual."

After finishing their shower, she put her dress from the previous day on and her shoes and started to walk to his front door.

"Damn it, I forgot I left my car at the bar last night. That means I'm going to have to get all the way to my place then back to the corner of Liberty and 5th Ave."

"So did I. You're going to Liberty Road?" Paul replied.

"Yeah I'm getting briefed for a series of interviews that want me to do at The Local."

Paul's interest peaked but he didn't show it. Dawn could never know he read everything she wrote.

"Cool. Well I'm heading that way anyway so how about we grab a cab and go together?"

She looked apprehensive for a moment as she thought about it. After deciding it wasn't a big deal she grabbed her things and he followed her out the door.

* * *

Paul was laying on Dawn's bed as he watched her get dressed. "Have you always worn such little lingerie?"

She looked cheekily over her shoulder at him from where she was standing in front of her mirror. "Maybe. But I'll admit I have done a little bit of lingerie shopping lately."

He said nothing but continue to watch her as she pulled on a white halter dress and black high heels.

Another few minutes passed by and he spoke up again, "you always wear heels." It wasn't a question or an accusation, it was just a statement.

She laughed lightly at the fact that he seemed to be pointing out the most random things before replying, "Always. These happen to be my new favourites, just so you know."

"Why? They are just black with a little red on the bottom."

"Um, Paul these are $600 shoes. They are Louboutins, not to mention I have only had them for a week."

He rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, Dawn saw this and frowned, "Don't roll your eyes at me; you were the one who asked."

"Yeah that's true. But they do make you look extremely sexy Troublesome."

He was now sitting on the edge of her bed. She was finished getting ready so she stood in between his legs and kissed him while still standing.

"I know," she finally said, "but we both have to go to work. Otherwise I'd probably have jumped you again 10 minutes ago."

She grabbed her bright red bag and started to walk to the front door, with Paul following behind. Before she could open the door, he stopped her and pulled her in closer for a kiss.

"Just saying goodbye before we get there."

She responded with another kiss before opening the door and getting into the cab they had called.

* * *

"I actually love this place, have you ever been there?" Dawn asked excitedly as they passed a bagel shop.

"Nope, I'll have to try it sometime."

"I don't get to come down here much though because the Rouge office is on the other side of town." She paused then added – "that's the magazine I write for."

Paul had to try really hard not to roll his eyes as she said that so he nodded and changed the subject, "Our office is on this road so I walk this route all the time."

"Oh that's right; I actually haven't seen your building but Leaf and Gary said it's really cool inside."

He couldn't reply because they had reached the magazine stand and Cecilia had yelled out to him.

"Paul! You look very nice, as always. Here's your usual –"

"Hey Cecilia, you know I don't have a usual," He blurted out quickly. Cecilia gave him a funny look and he moved his eyes in the direction of Dawn.

"Oh, and who might this be?" She said very excitedly while nudging Paul and nodding her head in Dawn's direction.

Dawn smirked. He'd have to say her name now. She nearly fell over when she heard him reply, "Cecilia this is troublesome." Well that made her angry.

"Paul! You can't even introduce me as Dawn? You're so immature. Argh!" She huffed before turning to Cecilia and smiling sweetly, "I'm Dawn Berlitz, do you two know each other well?"

"Wait, you're Dawn Berlitz? I thought I recognised you! It's nice to meet you, I am quite the fan of yours. You should come through here more often, it seems I sell your writing to quite a few fans of yours."

Paul shot her a warning look but she merely waved her hand at him. Dawn however had flushed red, with her hand scratching the back of her head as she laughed embarrassedly.

"Oh I'm sure you're just saying that. It's nice to meet you too. Don't mind Paul, he's always grumpy like that."

Cecilia smiled knowingly, "Really now? It's funny that this last week or so he's been in such a good mood."

This time Paul really glared at her, and Dawn looked at Paul in shock. Was that possibly because of her?

"Thanks, Cecilia – we should get going. I'll take these two today" Paul said through gritted teeth as he picked two random items off the stand and he handed her a $20. He always handed her a twenty dollar bill no matter what he ordered, because of this she sometimes gave him 'free' days.

"It was nice to meet you!" Dawn yelled out as Paul was dragging her away. She turned around to walk alongside Paul, "You are unbelievable," She huffed.

He ignored her when they got to the Local offices. "I'll catch you later," he said as he stalked off to his own work.

She sighed before walking into the building and getting into the elevator.

* * *

A month had gone by pretty smoothly for Dawn. She had been eagerly writing her columns in advance for Rouge, and it had turned out the interviews needed for the Local weren't due to start until next week as the series had been delayed. As of next week she would be beginning to interview some of Sinnoh's most successful businesses. It was going to be around one interview per weekend issue but she would need to do a bit of prep work for it.

She had seen Paul a fair bit in this time. They had been meeting late at night when they could and even spent a few of their weekend days together indulging in each other for hours on end. They had begun to get more comfortable around each other whilst still knowing their boundaries. It made her surprisingly happy to think that he was beginning to let his guard down a little bit around her.

They had even managed to avoid seeing their friends with both of them there, a few times they had only just got away it but luck had definitely been on there side.

Unfortunately, their luck seemed to be running out as that was about to change. Leaf and Gary had organised a night out for their group to go clubbing to an exclusive place in town known as Eve Nightclub. Dawn had had her dress picked out for Friday night in advance. She liked to be organised after all, not to mention the club was exclusive, they had only managed to get tickets through Drew's agent. Truth be told she was quite excited to be having a night out. She hadn't been out on the town for a while and it would be good to get dressed up and have a few drinks with all her friends.

It was currently Monday, and Dawn was packing an overnight bag to take with her to Paul's for the night. She had cheekily purchased a super sexy cop outfit which she was already wearing under her trench coat. After gathering everything she needed, she locked up her front door and got into her car to drive over, humming the whole way there.

* * *

Paul had just finished cleaning up around his house when he saw the bag he had bought on his entry table. He smirked slightly as he retrieved it, walking through his bedroom to get to his ensuite. Dawn would be surprised. He had actually done something nice for once and bought a loofa for his shower. While he was there he'd even swallowed his pride and bought some 'stupid' strawberry shower gel for her. He was glad no one had seen him enter the girly store because he knew he'd never live that down.

After placing the items on the small shelf in his shower, he heard a knock at his door.

Upon opening the door he saw Dawn and smirked. He realised she was wearing a coat and heels, "Um, don't you think it's a little hot outside to be wearing a coat Troublesome?"

It was her turn to smirk which confused Paul. Without saying a word, she placed her bag on the floor by the door and grabbed his hand, leading him into his bedroom.

"Sit," was all she said. He did as he was told and watched her with a confused look on his face. She grabbed his TV remote and placed it on the music channel to a relatively slow song that she liked.

He still didn't seem to get in until he noticed her undo the tie around her waist. Following this, she slowly began to unbutton her jacket as she slightly swayed to the music.

She had finally reached the end button on her jacket and slowly pushed it off, letting it fall to the floor below her.

Paul nearly drooled, resulting in a sexy smirk from Dawn. She was wearing her sexy cop outfit, with a low cut top revealing her cleavage, and tiny little blue booty shorts with thigh high black boots. Better yet, she was dancing for him. It was very sensual as she moved her hips to the slow beat of the song, running her hands through her hair after every few moves.

He sat very quietly as he watched, getting more and more turned on by the second. Eventually she unzipped the back of her top and pulled it over her head to reveal a pretty red bra. After another few moves she slowly slid her shorts down her legs, leaving her clad in underwear and thigh high boots.

Realising that she had every bit of attention he could muster, she walked over and pushed him roughly back onto the bed, climbing on top of him and kissing him passionately.

"You are…so…hot…mm," Paul managed to get out as she pulled his t-shirt off.

"No talking Paul." She said firmly, taking full control and rendering him speechless as he let her do whatever she wanted to him.

* * *

After their earlier session Paul had suggested they order some pizza which they had just finished devouring.

"That was so delicious!" Dawn said happily, they were sitting on Paul's couch in the living room.

"Yeah it was pretty good."

A comfortable silence broke out between the two as they were caught up in their own thoughts.

"Troublesome?"

Dawn had given up on getting him to stop calling her that. It seemed it was easier to just answer to it, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for earlier. You always seem to do little things for me and yeah. Thanks." It was an awkward kind of thankyou but she appreciated it none the less.

"Paul I actually enjoy doing those things. It's nice to surprise you and make sex all about you at times. I think it's just nice to do for any partner, to show them that you appreciate the intimate moments you share."

"Right. So um, I think I want to show you something."

He had moved to stand at that point and was waiting for her to join him and follow. He walked down the hall until they reached the closet door on the right.

"The closet?" She looked confused.

"Just open the door."

She hesitated for a moment before reaching for the handle and opening up the door. This was not a closet. It seemed to be another room, but she wasn't sure because it was dark.

Paul had switched the lights on after walking in behind her, allowing her to see a moderately sized home library. She stared at the sight in front of her in awe, taking it all in.

"You have a personal library? Why did you tell me it was a closet?"

"I just wasn't sure."

She nodded, figuring that he didn't know if he wanted her to see his taste in books. Dawn loved to read, and she found it amusing that Paul enjoyed it too. His books were all alphabetised and appeared to be sorted into genres as well.

Dawn was in heaven. As she walked around the room examining the books, she noticed there were some spaces in between the middle shelf of the room. She wondered if he was currently reading whatever usually sat there.

"You own Catcher in the Rye? I've never read that before but I've always wanted to," Dawn said as she stroked the spine softly.

"You could um. Borrow it if you want."

"Oh, no I couldn't."

"Really, take it, its fine."

"But Paul, this is a really nice addition."

"I know."

Dawn looked at him shocked. He trusted her. He trusted her enough with something that was clearly important to him. She looked down fondly at the book that she had in her hands.

"I'll take care of it. I promise."

He nodded, standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Paul, I have to say…I really didn't know you liked books this much."

"Yeah."

"We seem to have the same taste in books," she said as she walked around the room, noticing she had read quite a few of the ones in his collection.

"I guess."

"But you don't have Pride and Prejudice? How could you not have it? It's a classic."

"I don't read girl books."

"No really. You should it's a book about morals and love. It's probably my favourite book ever." When it became clear that Paul wasn't going to respond she continued, "How about a trade."

He looked up, "What kind of trade?"

"How about I read the Catcher in the Rye, and I'll lend you my copy of Pride and Prejudice and we can see if we enjoy each other's favourite books."

He seemed to be thinking this over. Once he saw the hopeful look on her face, he knew it was over. Why was he becoming so soft around her? It was getting ridiculous.

He sighed, "Yeah I guess we could try that."

Dawn looked positively ecstatic as she beamed up at him. He had to look away; he didn't even understand why he had decided to share his personal library with her. He had not let people in to see it. Not even Gary. It was personal for Paul, he just found so much comfort in reading and he didn't share that feeling with anyone. For some reason he'd made a split second decision to share it with Dawn and he would have to keep trying to convince himself that it wasn't a big deal. Deep down though, he knew it was.

* * *

Gary was wandering through the office on his way to the photocopier. He needed to email himself a copy of the file in his hand so he could send it through to one of their clients. After he had pressed send, he picked up the file and began to walk up. He glanced up at Paul's office briefly. After he realised what he had saw he stopped what he was doing and stared at it momentarily before beginning to walk to Paul's office door.

When he reached the glass door he knocked, all the while with a disbelieving look etched on his face. He didn't look up and once Gary realised why, he went and sat on one of the chairs facing Paul instead.

"Oh, hey," Paul said as he removed his headphones.

"First, Reggie tells me you're sleeping at work, and now you're reading at work?"

"Relax, you know I'm on top of things. I am basically weeks in advance for our upcoming projects due dates."

"Paul. I'm certainly not telling you off. Actually I'm relieved to finally see you taking it easy for once. As for the reading while listening to music thing, I don't get that. It's just weird."

"Yeah well, I can't read without the music so maybe you're the weird one."

Gary smirked, "Dude, is that Pride and Prejudice?"

"Yeah. It's a long story and I hate myself for it. But then I started reading it and now I'm extremely ashamed to admit that I can't put it down." He heard laughter coming from Gary and he glared at him. Gary didn't seem fazed by this and kept laughing until Paul threw a scrunched up piece of paper at him.

* * *

Paul pulled up into the all too familiar driveway in his black Rangerover. After grabbing his bag that had his work clothes for the next day in it, he walked up to Dawn's front door and knocked twice.

A few minutes went by and he couldn't hear any steps from inside, so he decided to try the handle. It was open, so he began to push the door open slight and called out to see if anyone was there. There was once again no response.

He was a bit worried by this time. Why would Dawn leave her front door unlocked if she wasn't home? He was slightly panicked as he threw his bag down and went to check her bedroom, staying alert in case something bad had happened.

"Dawn?" Paul called out; worry edging through his voice as he opened her bedroom door. What he found was so not what he expected.

Dawn was lying down on her bed with her headphones on, bawling her eyes out as she read a book.

"Dawn," he said a little louder this time, and he noticed she jumped as she realised he was there.

Urgently brushing away her tears with her hands, she removed her head phones and stood up from the bed to greet Paul with a smile.

"Hey, I didn't even realise the time, sorry."

She looked really upset and Paul felt a sudden urge to comfort her. He also felt strangely relieved that she was safe and alive. He quickly shook those feelings away though as he tried to figure out what she was crying about.

"Okay I give, what are you crying for?"

"Oh this, I wasn't I was just um…well I was just –" She stuttered – trying to think of an excuse.

He raised a brow at her to let her know he wasn't buying whatever it was she was trying to come up with.

"Okay fine," she mumbled dejectedly as she sat back down on the bed. "I was reading Catcher in the Rye."

Paul moved to the bed to sit with her as it looked like she had calmed down. He was wrong however when she suddenly burst out in tears once more.

"It's just so sad! He lost his brother and his classmate and the love of his life. He has so many issues and as a result he can't seem to connect with people on a normal level," she sobbed as she said this and she had moved so her forehead was leaning face-down on his shoulder.

"So you don't like it?" Paul asked as he lifted up her chin, proceeding to use his thumb to wipe a few of her tears away.

"No. I love it. It's so relatable. I feel like I can really connect with Holden yet I feel so sad for him."

Paul's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly as he heard Dawn say she loved his favourite book of all time. "That's what I love about it too. In case you haven't noticed troublesome, I'm hardly a people person."

She snorted, very unattractively; at least she'd managed to stop crying though. "Gee Paul, I'd never noticed," sarcasm was dripping through her voice as she spoke. He frowned but ignored the comment completely.

"How far are you through it?"

"Oh I already read it twice, I just had to read it again because it was so good," Dawn said passionately. Her face was still wet from her tears but her mood had improved considerably. "Have you had a chance to read Pride and Prejudice?"

Paul smirked at that fact that she had read it twice, he would never have picked her as a die-hard reader of a book that he loved. He just had always assumed that they would have completely different taste in, well, everything. They were so different after all.

"I finished it today at work."

"And?" Dawn said excitedly.

"And it was okay."

Dawn looked disappointed, "Oh, okay. I really thought you were going to like it, I guess Mr Darcy just sort of reminds me of you so I figured you could relate to him a little bit."

Paul hated how she could make him do stupid things so easily. He groaned, "Yeah well I just completely lied to your face."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean I lied. I couldn't put the stupid book down," Paul said whilst rubbing a hand over his face.

A grin spread across Dawn's face instantly, "You mean it? Wow! How exciting. What did you like about it?"

"Oh gee I don't know everything. It's ironic that they both hate each other upon first meeting, especially considering they get to know each other and realise that they both jumped to conclusions."

"Oh my god I know right! Plus it's so romantic how much he loves her," Dawn's hands were clasped together and she was going starry eyed just at the thought.

"Yeah, I guess."

Dawn giggled, "Well I'll take it. That was even better than the reaction I had pictured! C'mon Paul, how about we order some food. How do you feel about Chinese?"

"Chinese sounds good."

Dawn smiled and let out a high pitched squeal, at which Paul winced. She practically skipped out of the room to find the Chinese menu she had lying around, leaving Paul alone on her bed.

He looked around as he saw her iPod with her headphones plugged into it. Had she been reading whilst listening to music? Surely not. He'd never met anyone other than himself that did that. After deciding that she must have been doing the two activities separately, he pressed the big round button to light up the screen and check out what she had been listening to.

His eyes widened, "Unbelievable," he muttered under his breath, "she listens to Mariana's Trench too?" How was it possible that they liked the same band? This was getting way to crazy. He decided to see what other music she had on there, to check if it was just luck that she was listening to a song that he liked.

It seemed that Dawn listened to a huge variety of music, lots of rock bands but also a fair bit of pop such as Taylor Swift. Paul wasn't a big fan of the pop stuff on there but he had to admit he respected her a tiny bit more knowing that she had at least 200 of his favourite songs on her iPod.

He sighed as he lay back onto the bed, making himself comfortable amidst her pillows before groaning extremely loudly. If he wasn't screwed before, he certainly was now.

* * *

May was the first to arrive at Dawn's house. She was the only one who had a relatively free afternoon so they figured they'd have a girls day before the others came to Dawn's for pre-drinks that night.

"I always forget how nice this place is," May said as she followed Dawn to the kitchen with her bag of clothes.

"Ahh thanks," Dawn said sheepishly, "now I was thinking we could start with some champagne while we get ready? I have been holding out for a girl's night that's for sure."

"That sounds fun!" May giggled, "I'm really hoping to look good tonight."

"Pfft, yeah I know you want to look good so you can impress Drew," Dawn said as she handed May a glass of champagne and finished pouring her own.

May accepted the glass and stared into its liquids but didn't say anything.

Dawn took that as all she was going to get out of May on that subject and decided to lighten the mood. "C'mon I think we should start getting ready, I have a few ideas that will blow Drew's mind."

May didn't deny the idea of wanting to impress Drew, but she smiled brightly when Dawn offered to help her. It wasn't that May needed to dress up to look good, it was just that she didn't do it very often and she knew that there were going to be a heap of Drew's fan girls around all night. If she was being really honest with herself, she just didn't want Drew to forget about her when he realised he could have any girl in the world.

An hour later, Dawn had painted their nails, styled their hair and was just putting the last touches of make-up on May.

"And finished!"

May turned to look in the mirror and gasped, "Dawn…wow." She moved closer to inspect her face and hair in the brighter light. Her hair was slightly curly but Dawn had straightened her fringe which created a really vibrant look when the two textures met at the sides. It was edgy and it was very un-May-like. Her make-up was neutral except for some black eyeliner and mascara – which made her eyes stand out.

"Really, Dawn…this is amazing. You're really good at this."

Dawn smiled; it was nice to see May look so happy. "I was just trying to help you out. I know we tease you about Drew a lot but I hope you know we are just playing around. We want you to be happy."

"I know. I guess it's just hard for me sometimes. I am well aware of how I feel about him you know? But it's just difficult because when he is being a jerk he makes me feel like I'm back in high school. Then it's like my mouth can't be controlled and I can hear myself saying completely immature things and I just can't help it. He drives me crazy. It's really hard to know that the person you have feelings for, doesn't feel the same way."

Dawn giggled at this and May glared and huffed, crossing her arms, "Fine then. I will never ever share anything with you ever again."

"That's not why I'm laughing, May," Dawn said whilst still giggling a little through her words, "It's just funny that you don't see what I see."

May looked at her confused so she continued, "When I see you and Drew, I see a guy who is just dying for a bit of attention from you. I know that when you met he had honestly mistaken your name because he had forgotten it but knew that it was the name of a month. But I think that once he realised how much attention he would get from you just from calling you a different name, that he realised if he challenged your more often he would get all your attention."

May looked thoughtful, "So you're saying he is like a kid at school who picks on the girl he likes?"

"Exactly."

"I'm not sure Dawn, I just think that's something I would have noticed. It's actually a little ironic; I guess I always thought that was why Paul would be mean to you."

That caught her off guard. She was taking a sip of champagne and it nearly came out her nose after hearing that comment.

Trying to pass that concept off she waved her hand, "Pfft, Paul hates me. You have the wrong idea May."

"I dunno. I guess I just figured that he barely talks to anyone else, except Leaf but even then he has trouble talking to her. But he'll argue with you until the cows come home. It just seems like he's willing to be around you, even if he has to start arguments with you to do it."

Dawn stared wide eyed at May. She didn't even time to defend herself and Paul before May had continued.

"Then there was the whole thing after Leaf and Gary's."

"May, I told you guys that all he did was yell at me the entire ride home."

"But I just feel like something doesn't add up. I mean I've been thinking about this since we all hung out at the Elephant and the Lion…I guess what I'm asking is what could possibly have been that bad that you guys are still avoiding each other. What happened Dawn? You can trust me."

"Well…you see the thing is…" Dawn was lost for words, out of all the people in the world she would never have guess May to be on to them before anyone else was.

"Something happened didn't it?"

"Yes, I said something happened, he yelled at me."

"No – something good happened. Something that one or both of you liked."

Dawn's mouth basically hit the floor. She knew. She knew all this time. Were they that obvious?

Suddenly, May sprang up from the bed and grabbed her into a hug screaming loudly.

"YAYY! I WAS RIGHT! WOOO! I KNEW IT! I SO PICKED THAT! TELL ME EVERYTHING!"

"May, I can't tell you anything."

"Why not?"

"Because we have both agreed not to talk about it."

May sighed, "Well how about we get dressed and then we can see if you feel like talking?"

"That sounds good. Come to my closet I have the perfect dress for you!"

Half an hour had passed and they were finally both fully ready.

Dawn was wearing a midnight blue mini dress that had a sparkly, silver collar at the top. She topped it off with black stockings and her favourite Louboutins.

She had leant May her new Gucci dress, which was black and short sleeved yet backless. It was also a mini dress and she accompanied it with a pair of bright red peep toe heels. Dawn had spent the last five minutes trying to explain how valuable Gucci was to May. She had never really been the kind of girl who was that into fashion.

By the time she had finished her own makeup and put some bright red lipstick on, she was finished. Her hair had been straightened and parted to the side. It was understated, yet classy and the lipstick made her 'pop'.

"Well, looks like the others will be here in another half an hour or so, let's refill our drinks and chat on your couch!" May said, dragging Dawn to the kitchen to refill their drinks.

They had been drinking for an hour and a half, and in another glass or two they would probably both be feeling the effects.

As they sat down and got comfortable, Dawn decided maybe she could tell May a little bit about her and Paul.

"So, something good did happen. I'm just not ready to talk about it yet. I will talk to you about it soon though okay? But you can't tell Leaf anything, she would never approve."

"I promise. When you're ready, I'll be here."

They continued to drink their drinks in a comfortable silence for a little while, until they heard a knock at the door. They both stood up to greet their friends.

"Dawn! May!" Leaf and Misty yelled simultaneously.

"Pfft, girls, they're all weird," Ash said to Gary, Drew and Paul as they snickered.

After the girls finished hugging Ash and Gary got in, giving Dawn and May big bear hugs.

After Leaf, Misty, Gary and Ash had walked through to the kitchen, Dawn, May, Drew and Paul were left.

"Hey Dawn," Drew said as he kissed her on the cheek and gave her a hug. After he pulled away, he looked over at May. He had to admit, she looked really good.

Before he could comment, she beat him to it, "Hey Drew, you look nice tonight."

He smirked, "Yeah, I guess you don't look so bad yourself." She glanced at Paul and Dawn quickly before grabbing Drew by the arm and dragging him into the kitchen.

"You look sexy Troublesome," Paul whispered. They weren't too close to each other because if anyone was to walk around the corner they would be found out.

She smirked, "and you look really good dressed up, but we should probably get back to the others."

Paul nodded as he walked behind her. Upon entering they noticed that the group had set up shop at her dining table.

"What are you guys doing?" Dawn asked as she watched. They were pouring a heap of shots of some pink liquid.

"Just setting up some shots for us to do," Gary replied.

"Cool, what's in them?"

"They are strong, let's just leave it at that," he raised a brow as he said this and Dawn realised she so didn't want to know.

* * *

They were all a bit drunk by the time they were walking up to the club. Dawn was about to stand in line when Drew called out to her and led them straight up to the front of the line.

There were heaps girls around that realised who he was and began to chant "Drew! Drew! Drew!"

He smiled charmingly and waved goodbye as he entered the club with the others. His agent had managed to get them a private booth that was close to the bar and the dance floor but not too close to the speakers – so they could still hear each other talk. Leaf, Misty and May had headed to the dance floor whilst Gary and Ash went to get some drinks, leaving Paul, Dawn and Drew to occupy the booth.

Dawn was chatting to Drew animatedly about this shot that she had tasted once called a "paddle pop shot" and was telling him how she couldn't believe it tasted just like a rainbow paddle pop. When it was clear he wasn't paying any attention Dawn followed his eyes over to where he was looking. May had stopped dancing and some tall guy with brown hair was talking to her. They were smiling a lot and it was clear that Drew didn't like it.

"Pfft, who does that guy think he is," Drew said under his breath, clearly thinking that no one was paying attention to him.

"You know Drew, May really isn't a hard girl to figure out."

He looked up at Dawn and flushed slightly as he realised her and Paul had both witnessed him acting a little jealous.

"She's a lot harder than you'd think. She's just not like any other girls I've ever met. She's so feisty and unpredictable. Yet that guy comes along and sweeps her off her feet in a heartbeat."

He looked downwards dejectedly and Dawn smiled, it was nice to see how much he cared about May.

"You just have to try a different approach, something much less complicated than what you've been doing all this time."

"Yeah but what does that even mean? I've tried everything just to get her attention but she just doesn't seem interested. Then I come off looking like a jerk when I just want to spend time with her."

"Dude, it's not that hard. Have you ever thought of just being nice to her? Why don't you go ask her to dance and buy her a drink or something."

Dawn and Drew both looked shocked to see Paul contributing earnestly to the conversation.

"Um Paul, are you feeling okay? You just said more than three words in a sentence." He reached out to touch Paul's forehead but Paul slapped his hand away, glaring at him.

"But seriously, thanks guys," Drew said as he got up and walked over to May. Dawn watched for a few minutes as May seemed to listen to what Drew was saying then smiled brightly as she let him lead her further into the dance floor.

"Aww look at them. How cute are they?"

Paul gave her a 'look'. He didn't even need to use words, Dawn knew that it was his "Really, you just said that to me?" look.

She glared at him slightly before Gary and Ash sat down with their drinks. Leaf and Misty had managed to come back too to take a few sips of their drinks before leading their boyfriends back to the dance floor.

"Well this is fun," Paul said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I guess I've never seen you in a club before, I should have figured it would be something you wouldn't enjoy."

"Hey have you read Harry Potter?"

Paul looked up from his drink, "No, I don't think a bunch of kids at wizard school would be something I'd be into."

Dawn feigned hurt, "I don't think we can be friends anymore Paul."

He rolled his eyes and swirled his drink a few times.

"Well I was thinking we could do another book trade. I'm assigning you Harry Potter, and before you complain, remember how good my last recommendation was," Dawn continued as she briefly looked out to the crowd to see Leaf and Gary doing the robot. She smiled; trust them to be completely comfortable making idiots out of themselves in front of a billion people. It was so obvious how happy they were together.

"Sweet, I'll trade you The Taming of the Shrew."

"You're a Shakespeare fan?"

"Well, he's hardly my favourite author ever but he's certainly up there."

Dawn smiled and nodded. She didn't have a chance to reply as Leaf had come to grab her and drag her to the dance floor with May and Misty.

"Wow, you must be really into her." Paul looked up to see Drew had appeared across from him. He hadn't seen him arrive because he had been unconsciously watching Dawn dance with the others.

"No."

"Yes. You don't have to lie to me, I have known for ages."

"Drew," Paul growled, "drop it. I don't have a thing for Dawn."

"Look, I'm just gonna say that you clearly do have feelings for her whether you want to admit it or not. But remember, she's a good catch, and if you don't do something about it soon some other guy is going to come and snap her up."

Paul snorted, "Yeah, whatever dude, I don't like Dawn. In fact, see that girl over there," he pointed to a girl with pink hair in pigtails. Drew nodded but looked at him questioningly, "I'm going home with her tonight."


	5. Chapter 5

Paul opened his eyes and groaned when he saw the brightly lit room he was in. He liked his bedroom and the view he got from it but he really needed to start closing his curtains at night. It was hard because he enjoyed the view of the city while he was trying to fall asleep. Definitely a lose-lose situation in his opinion.

Deciding it was time to get up, he looked around the room briefly. He guessed he must have been dreaming that Dawn had stayed over the night previous considering he was all alone in bed.

A few days had passed since their group night out clubbing and Paul was feeling very sorry for himself. How could he have gone home with that girl? Her name was Ursula….well, Paul didn't catch her last name. The point was that he for some strange reason felt like he was doing the wrong thing by Dawn.

Visibly frowning, he remembered that he hadn't heard from Dawn since that night. He hadn't even said goodbye to her, and he didn't know for sure that Dawn knew he had left with some girl. It wasn't like he had tried to call her either though.

Paul had been feeling a little 'off' the last few days. He wasn't quite sure what the feeling was. Then again, maybe he did know and just didn't want to admit it.

He stood up and stretched his arms out above his head before hearing a beeping noise coming from his phone.

His eyes widened when he realised it was from Dawn. Taking a deep breath, he opened it and began to read.

To: _Paul  
_From: _Dawn_

_Hey stud, you free tonight? If so I'm thinking whipped cream and a naked me at your place tonight._

Paul dropped the phone twice before he managed to pull himself together. Was this a joke? Maybe she didn't know. But if she didn't know, that would mean he would have to tell her. Right?

He decided to reply, he was going to go and tell her everything and hope she would still want to be his sex buddy. Then again, they did agree that they could see other people. Maybe he wasn't really doing anything wrong.

To: _Troublesome  
_From: _Paul_

_Sounds tasty, I'll be there at 7pm._

Sighing, he went to get in the shower, glaring at the loofa he had purchased the entire time the water was running. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Dawn was nervous. The clock said 6.40pm and she was extremely anxious about Paul coming over. She thought for sure he was planning on ending their little friendship. She didn't want it to end, they had so much fun together and she barely had time for work and her friends – let alone dating. Their agreement was much easier for her.

She laughed bitterly to herself as she remembered back to the club that night.

_"Hey Drew, where did Paul go?" Dawn asked, noticing that he was sitting alone. She briefly wondered where May was but her question was answered almost immediately when May came back to their booth with 2 drinks._

_Drew bit his lip, he was debating whether he should tell her or not. He had had his suspicions about the two for a while, and he didn't want to see either of them get hurt. He sighed, it wouldn't be fair to lie to her, "he went home with a girl before."_

_Dawns face seemed to go blank. "Wait, what?"_

_"He went home with some chick with pink hair."_

_"Oh." Dawn looked sad and Drew immediately felt terrible. Her face kept changing, it was like she was arguing with herself in her head. A minute or so passed with May and Drew just staring at her until she smiled brightly and continued, "Well, that's good for him. Go Paul."_

_May had realised she'd forgotten to get her change and excused herself, giving Drew a 'look' to let him know not to upset Dawn any further._

_"Hey Dawn, I just wanted to let you know that sometimes us guys just need some time to figure things out."_

_Dawn looked at him curiously but didn't say anything as Drew continued._

_"We generally don't just swallow our pride; usually it takes some time for us to adjust to new things."_

_"I know. Thanks Drew."_

_"Seriously though, you helped me with May earlier and to be honest this is probably the best night of my life. It's like in an instant our connection has changed from spiteful to playful and it's all thanks to you. And Paul, but we all know that's thanks to you too. The point is, if you need someone to talk to in order to get some perspective, I'd love to repay the favour."_

_Dawn smiled and leant over to give Drew a big bear hug. "I will keep it in mind. Thanks Drew. I think I'm gonna leave you and May to it now," she said with a wink._

* * *

_May returned just in time to see Dawn walking off._

_"That was nice of you Drew, thanks for cheering her up."_

_"May, I'm always nice," Drew responded smoothly._

_She looked at him surprised for a while before smiling shyly, "you just called me May."_

_Drew's eyes widened, "yeah, I guess I did," he said awkwardly. _

_Before he knew it, May had leaned across the table with her elbows and kissed Drew lightly on the lips. _

_They broke apart when they heard clapping. Leaf, Gary, Misty and Ash all stood at the end of the booth clapping and smiling like idiots._

_"FINALLY!" Ash yelled very loudly. They all looked at him shocked; if Ash had noticed then it must have been obvious._

_Drew smiled sincerely at May's red cheeks. Man he thought she was so adorable. It was rare for him to get embarrassed though so he decided to take control of the situation._

_"Dance with me." Without giving her time to respond, he had grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor._

Dawn smiled at the news she had heard from May the next day that she had kissed Drew and that he had taken her for a romantic walk home. She lived in the heart of the city, relatively close to the club they were at.

_*Knock Knock* _

Dawn jumped when she heard it. Had she really been daydreaming for 20 minutes? She opened the door to see an awkward looking Paul at the door.

"Hey, come on in."

"Hey."

They had reached the kitchen and Paul put his overnight bag on her couch before turning to look at her seriously. His hands were in his jean pockets and he had his serious face on.

"I need to tell you something. I went home with a girl Friday night."

Dawn put a smile on her face. If she was really honest with herself, it was hard for her to hear. But they were friends, and she knew what she was getting into right at the start when Paul made the rule of them being allowed to see other people.

"Paul, I know. And its okay. You don't need to explain."

He looked taken aback. "Wait, what? You know?"

"Yeah I saw you leave with her," she lied. It would be mean to drag Drew into it when he was just trying to look out for her.

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yep. Paul we agreed we could see other people. You didn't do anything wrong."

"And you're sure you want to continue with our little agreement?"

"Sure am. Now, if you're done talking I think it's been way to long since I last saw you." She said as she removed her coat to reveal that she was completely naked underneath. As she walked to her room she grabbed the whipped cream she had on the bench.

Paul's mouth curved into a rare smile. "This. Is. Awesome," He muttered before quickly following her to the bedroom.

* * *

Paul sat at a table at the Elephant and the Lion with Gary, Reggie, Drew and Ash. They were having a boy's night after work to celebrate Paul and Gary landing an article in _The Local_ for their marketing firm being an 'up and coming success.' All of their hard work was beginning to pay off. It was a series they had known about for a while but up until now nothing had been confirmed. However, their representative would be coming to see them both tomorrow and it was time to get excited and celebrate.

"Cheers boys," Paul said with an almost smile.

"Okay dude what's up with you?" Ash asked seriously.

"Um nothing? Can't I celebrate the fact that our business is doing well?" Paul replied in a smart-ass tone.

"No really, Ash is right, you've been weird. You talk way more than you ever have, not to mention I've caught you smiling like 3 times this week and its only Tuesday."

Paul scowled at the four of them, "I haven't changed at all," he said harshly as he got up and walked over to the nearest waitress.

"Should we be worried about him?" Ash asked innocently to the other three guys at the table.

Reggie looked thoughtful, putting a finger to his chin as he leant back in his chair. "Hmm. You guys have really been badgering on about Paul acting different haven't you?"

The three younger guys looked at each other in silent agreement, "yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Reggie laughed, '_oh Paul, I'm so onto you,'_ he thought to himself. He looked up to meet three questioning gazes, "It's a long story but I have a feeling this is all going to work itself out. I hope so anyway."

"So what do we do? Sit back and let him be this happy, weird Paul?" Gary asked whilst making a 'gross' face as he got to the 'happy' part.

"Yeah I guess so," Reggie finished. He looked at Drew, noticing he had been silent throughout the whole conversation about Paul, only to find that he had a slight smirk on his face. When their gazes met Drew smirked a little more then looked away. Reggie knew right then that Drew must have figured it out.

At that point Paul returned to the table, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head. He was looking pretty pleased with himself and Reggie just _had_ to ask him why he was looking so smug to see if his theory was correct.

"What's with the look little bro?"

"No look here, just waiting for that chick to finish her shift."

"What's her name?" Reggie questioned further.

"I dunno, Melanie or something. Melody? It doesn't really matter anyway." At that point the girl had walked over and nodded her head towards the door whilst looking at Paul.

"And I'm out boys," he said whilst leaving a $50 note on the table and smirking before walking off.

Reggie smiled, '_Paul, you just proved my whole point,' he thought._

* * *

Dawn was dressed up for the day. She was so excited about her first interview for her new series in _The Local_ that she had gone shopping the day before to buy a new outfit.

She was wearing black mid-thigh shorts with lace around the cuffs, with a black singlet and pale pink blazer over the top. The look was finished with over-the-knee brown, suede boots and a matching oversized handbag.

"501, 502, 503, here it is," she mumbled to herself as she looked up at the building in front of her. It was huge, but that was because there were so many different offices in the building. She took her sunnies off and placed them in her handbag as she walked through the revolving doors and across to the elevator pressing the 'up' button.

Once the elevator had opened she stepped in. It was almost closed when she heard someone yell "hold the elevator!"

She immediately pushed the 'open door' button and waited for the person to enter. It was a guy about her age, maybe a year or two older. He had chocolate brown hair that was quite messy and he was very handsome, wearing a black suit with a white shirt and a black skinny tie.

"Thanks for that," he said breathily, he must have been running to catch it.

"Sure."

"I haven't seen you in this building before? Are you new?" The guy asked.

"Oh, I don't work here. I'm actually just here to conduct an interview on the 20th floor," Dawn replied. The boy grinned widely and she couldn't help but grin back. His smile was contagious.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She laughed as he scratched his head before replying, it was odd because said guy kind of reminded her of Ash.

"Oh, sorry, it's just not every day I get to have an attractive woman hold the elevator for me."

Dawn blushed slightly and smiled. Unfortunately, the elevator 'dinged' to indicate they were on the 20th floor.

"Well, this is me…" She trailed off.

"It was nice meeting you…?"

She had already gotten off the elevator but she had turned to face him, "Dawn."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Ritchie, and I really hope I run into you again," He paused slightly as his lips curved upwards, "Dawn."

The elevator closed and Dawn had to bite her lip trying to supress a smile and a squeal. After all, it wasn't often that she got to flirt with a cute guy in an elevator. She sighed as she realised she didn't know which floor he was headed to. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone call her.

"Dawn?" She looked around to see Gary looking at her in disbelief, "What are you doing here?"

"Gary? Wait, _your_ firm is getting featured in _The Local?_"

"Yeah, how did you –?"

Dawn laughed, how ironic, "I'm the journalist interviewing you today!"

At this point Paul had arrived and was shocked to see Dawn. He mentally slapped himself, how did he not put two and two together before?

"Hey Paul," Dawn said politely.

"Hey."

Gary looked back and forth between the two, "so how about you start with me Dawn? After we've finished talking about how we got started, Paul is the man to talk to about what's in stall for the future."

Dawn looked surprised, "wow it seems you guys have everything planned out, that's impressive usually it takes a while for me to organise who needs to talk about what."

"It was all Paul's idea he had prepared everything for this interview weeks ago. It's still really amusing that out of all the people that could get assigned, it was you."

Dawn was impressed at Paul's organisation and preparation. He was avoiding her gaze which she knew meant he didn't want praise for it so she decided to cut to the chase.

"So, Gary, where can we go that's quiet?"

"Here, let me take you to my office, can I get you coffee?" Gary said as he led Dawn away.

Paul rubbed his face with one hand; it was going to be super hard to be around Dawn in a working environment where it would be considered 'public indecency' to do her on his stone desk.

* * *

Paul was standing in the conference room with 3 employees pitching their latest marketing plan for an online florist that wanted to 'revamp' their website.

Paul was watching the projector screen as the employees were explaining that they had picked the ambience of the Eiffel Tower to sit as the back-drop for the site, with flower petals on the side where the navigation pane was.

"I like that one there," he pointed the option on the left of the screen, "but you need to make the client feel that they need to purchase flowers from this site and this site only. Scrap the colour there and make it black and white, then change the flower petals to red rose petals but keep them in colour. When you're done ill be in my office. Good job."

Paul heard a giggle and he turned slowly to see Dawn grinning at him. "Wow Paul I guess you say more than 10 consecutive words in a row," she teased while poking her tongue out at him.

"Troublesome, you have heard me talk plenty of times."

"Yeah but I haven't seen you all powerful and corporate. It's very sexy," She whispered. Gary was in the office and they had to be careful so they wouldn't be found out. She directed her attention to the screen that was still up. The employees had already left to make the changes that Paul had asked for in their meeting.

"Wow the Eiffel Tower is so beautiful," She said quietly, "I've always wanted to go but I guess I haven't gotten around to it yet. Have you been?"

"Nope. I don't think it'd be my thing."

She gazed at the pictures for a minute before looking seriously at Paul, "so I've gotten what I needed to from Gary, now it's just you that I need to interview."

"Uh sure, we can go to my office if you like."

"Mmm, Paul," she dragged out his name slowly as she whispered, "anyone would think you were trying to impress me."

He went rigid, "Troublesome we can't do this here."

"Oh I know. But it's still fun to mess with you. Now, where's your office?"

* * *

"Great and what's next for you as an individual? Planning on moving up the corporate ladder at another firm?" Dawn asked. The interview was going rather smoothly and Paul was impressed by her professionalism. He'd read her work for years and yet he had been missing out on the other areas of her career. He was sure that this was going to be his favourite series of hers ever – except perhaps her advice column featuring their secret sex relationship – but that was probably always going to take the cake.

"Nope, I am pretty happy with the way things are going here. Obviously we aren't completely out of the woods but if we keep working hard I think we will eventually make it to the top."

"Phew," Dawn said as she took her glasses off. She didn't need them often but she found that when she was reading and writing for too long that her eyes started to hurt. "That was really good Paul."

"Thanks."

"So what are you up to tonight?"

"Well I was thinking that you could come over and bring those sexy glasses of yours. I'll make sure I get some Pinot on the way home."

Dawn smiled slyly – they couldn't act too friendly because Gary would be watching them for sure. "6.30?"

"Deal."

As Dawn left his office, Paul couldn't stop a slight smile from crossing his face.

Unfortunately, Gary had caught it. Gary narrowed his eyes, then hummed to himself whilst walking to his office. He dialled a number and waited a few moments for the other line to pick up.

"Leaf, hey, I think it's time for us to do some digging."

* * *

"Hi," Dawn said as she walked into Paul's apartment, he had left the door unlocked for her.

Paul was cooking dinner for them and said a quick hey without looking up. That was a mistake. As he turned away from the pasta that was now cooked he saw what she was wearing and managed to drop the wooden spoon to the floor.

She was wearing her outfit from earlier at the office, but she had untied her hair and teased it to make it look like 'sex hair' and she wore her glasses. In her hands she held a pen and a notepad.

He walked over to her and was going to grab her and ravish her right then and there before she stopped him.

"Uh-uh," she said as she re-adjusted her glasses with her hand, "this is a _professional_ interview Paul. Sit down."

He hated that she could use sex to get him to go along with pretty much anything. She sat down on the chair while he sat on the couch.

"So _Paul_," she said it so slowly that it almost sounded like a moan. He really should never have told her that her saying his name turned him on, "what do you want me to do to you tonight?"

He coughed slightly, before deciding what the hell? If she wanted a bit of dirty talk then that was what she would get, "First I want you to give me that lap dance you never got to finish," he winked at her.

In response she smirked, "what else?"

"After that I don't want you to do anything to me. It's what I'm going to do to you that you should be thinking about."

"Oh really?" She questioned suggestively, "And why is that, _Paul?"_

"Because if you say my name like that again then I'm not being held responsible for the things I'm about to do to you."

She looked at him challenging.

"_Paul." _She said in a whisper.

That was it. Paul threw the notepad and pen to the floor before picking Dawn up and throwing her on the couch and kissing her roughly.

She'd soon turned the tables on him as she moved them over so that she was on top. They made quick work of their clothes with Paul just in his boxers and Dawn in her lacy, navy blue lingerie that looked extremely sexy next to her hair.

The two were so caught up in each other that they hadn't noticed Paul's door being opened and two people walking in.

Dawn was on top of Paul kissing his chest when they heard *Ahem.*

Dawn and Paul both shot up, looking at the two interrupters.

"Gary? Leaf? What hell are you doing here?" Paul demanded.

Dawn was just as appalled but she was busy trying to find something to cover herself up with.

"Wow Dawn, nice." Gary said jokingly. Leaf didn't seem fazed by this; she knew that Dawn was hot. She also knew Gary thought of her more as a little sister than anything else.

"As for why we're here, maybe we should be asking you guys what _this_ is first." Leaf asked as she gestured at the fact that they were both half naked and together.

"Leaf I think it's pretty obvious that they are dating."

"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER!" Paul and Dawn yelled simultaneously.

Leaf scoffed, "um…then what are you doing?"

"Look, just give us a second to get dressed can you close your eyes or something," Paul mumbled. He was hardly impressed that Gary had seen Dawn half naked, not that he would ever admit to that annoying him.

After they had managed to put some clothes on they told Gary and Leaf to sit down and they would explain.

"Guys it's just sex." Dawn said honestly.

"What do you mean it's 'just' sex?" Leaf asked.

"Well we meet up when we have some free time and have a lot of sex. It's a good stress reliever and neither of us have time to date. We are just friends with benefits. It's working well."

"Well dude, I'm impressed." Gary said as he held up a hand for Paul to high five. Paul didn't but he did smirk in response.

"Dawn, Paul slept with someone else when we went out last week."

"I realise that. We are both allowed to be with whoever we want."

Leaf's face contorted and she scoffed once more. "Wow Dawn, I really never thought you were that cheap."

Dawn, Paul and Gary were all surprised that Leaf would say that to one of her oldest friends.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Leaf repeated, a nasty look gracing her features, "I didn't realise you were that cheap to just give it away for free. But hey, maybe I don't really know who you are anymore."

"Are you insinuating that I'm some kind of whore?" Dawn asked, she was standing now and her voice slightly broke on the last word.

"I didn't use that word but yeah. I'm really disappointed that you would sink this low Dawn."

Dawn couldn't even respond. How could the girl that she had known for years say something so cruel to her? The girl she considered to be her best friend in the world that she loved so much and would do anything for just said the most horrible things to her. She pursed her lips together, she didn't want to cry. Not like this.

The next part shocked them all.

"How dare you," Paul's voice was raised as he stood up and turned towards Leaf, "how dare you come into _my_ house without an invitation and throw out insults like that."

Leaf had never seen Paul so angry. Even _Gary_ had never seen Paul get this angry. She couldn't even muster up a reply to him as she heard him continue. "Get. Out."

Gary wasn't sure what to say or do so he grabbed Leaf and pulled her out the door with him.

Paul went and locked his front door before walking over to Dawn. He had never seen her so upset before. Her hands were covering the lower half of her face, with tears continuously streaming down.

She let him hug her as he silently rubbed his fingers up and down her back. It was then that she began to sob.

Usually Paul would want to kill any girl who was winging and crying, but this? He wanted to do anything in his power to make her feel better.

He stood there letting her cry for a good half an hour. She had quietened down but her tears were still flowing freely. He gently picked her up, leaving her head resting on his shoulder as he took her to his bedroom and laid her down on his sheets. He removed his shirt and turned the light off, the city lights keeping the room dimly lit as he climbed in to the bed.

"Paul, I don't want to be alone tonight," she whispered so lightly he could barely hear her.

"I know. Let's just sleep tonight. It's okay." Paul said before she slowly moved her head onto his chest as she continued to cry. He leaned down to kiss her hair as he rubbed her hair gently until she eventually cried herself to sleep.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you," he whispered once he could hear her breathing steady, indicating that she was asleep.

* * *

Paul shifted in his sleep, reaching out for Dawn as he was beginning to wake up. When he realised she was beside him he turned over to see her just waking up too.

They were laying on their sides just looking into each other's eyes for a few minutes before she spoke up.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," he whispered back.

"Paul….Thanks."

He let a small smile reach his face, "why are we whispering?"

"Because whispering is fun."

They laid there in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Dawn was tracing her fingers lightly over Paul's hand.

He found it weird that something he would usually find really annoying didn't bother him as much when it was Dawn.

"Are you okay?" He figured they might as well continue to whisper. He inwardly rolled his eyes at himself when he decided that she was right, it was kind of fun.

"No. Are you?"

"Don't worry about me."

"Paul do you think Leaf's right?"

"Troublesome, don't listen to her. I don't know why she said those things but you deserve better than that, and she's the one in the wrong here. You're a good person…you shouldn't feel bad."

Dawn smiled, "that's a really nice thing to say Paul."

"Hmm," He sighed.

"Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you're a good person too."

He didn't answer her. He just stared at her. How did she make him feel like this so easily? So soft…like he wanted to go and hug puppies.

They laid together just looking at each other and holding hands for what seemed like eternity, yet neither of them seemed to mind. It was comfortable.

Paul saw Dawn visibly tense when they heard a knock at the door.

"I'll take care of it." He said as he left the room to go and get the door. Sure enough, Leaf was standing on the other side.

He automatically went to shut the door on her before she placed her hand inside, "Paul, I need to speak to her. I need to apologise. How could I have said those things? I wasn't thinking, I-I."

She was frantic and as a result speaking extremely quickly.

"No you weren't thinking," he paused briefly, "look I don't think she's up for visitors at the moment Leaf."

"It's okay," Dawn said from the hall leading to Paul's bedroom.

"You sure?" Paul asked sincerely.

Dawn nodded, "I'll be fine."

He reluctantly nodded before walking towards Dawn to go and get in the shower. As he passed her, he ever so slightly grabbed her hand to reassure her. It was subtle; Leaf wouldn't have been able to see it from where she was standing, but it made Dawn feel much more at ease.

There was an awkward silence as Leaf closed the door behind her and walked to put her bag on the couch. She walked over to stand in front of Dawn before bursting out in tears. It wasn't long before Dawn started crying too and Leaf pulled the girl into a hug.

"I'm so so _so_ sorry Dawn. I should never have said those things. I didn't even mean them; I don't know what came over me. It just happened and then I saw how upset you were and it was too late to take it back and I am _so_ very sorry."

Dawn pulled back from the hug and went to sit on the couch with Leaf following behind.

"Leaf, I care so much about what you think of me. And you broke my heart when you said those things to me yesterday. It was awful."

"I know, and I am so sorry. I was just jealous of you Dawn," she said quietly as she looked down at her hands.

"Jealous of me? Why?" Dawn wiped her face in an attempt to pull herself together.

"Yeah. I guess I am just jealous that you can be so open about…" Leaf looked around to see if Paul was there before whispering "sex."

Dawn looked at her curiously. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that Leaf had never talked about her sex life with her before. Maybe she was shy about that sort of thing?

"Leaf, you can say the word out loud. Paul is in the shower anyway."

"But it's just…it's so embarrassing. And I guess the thought that you have been having all this good…sex….with a guy you aren't dating just made me a little ashamed of myself. Gary must think I'm so…well…boring." She looked utterly dejected. On top of that she had gone completely red in the face.

"Leaf, it's okay to be embarrassed, but you should never feel ashamed of yourself. Gary loves you. And he wants to be with you no matter what. I'm sure he's willing to support you and only do what you are comfortable with."

Leaf smiled shyly. "Are we okay?"

"Yeah. We are okay." Dawn assured her with a smile whilst reaching out to hold her hand.

There was a pause as they both let relief wash over them knowing that their friendship wasn't over.

"Dawn, do you think you could do me a favour?"

"Anything."

"Well…do you think you could teach me how to do something um…a little more adventurous for Gary?"

Dawn laughed at this, "Sure. Want to spend the day together?"

"Yeah. I've missed our one-on-one quality best friend time."

"Same. Let me just go tell Paul."

"Oh and Dawn?"

"Yeah?"

"You're going to have to fill me in on how this happened."

Dawn laughed once more, "yeah, I know."

Paul was just finishing in the shower as Dawn walked in. He was only wearing a towel and his wet hair made him look extremely sexy. Well, that and the fact that his skin was still partially wet. Dawn just wanted to reach out and touch him.

She shook her head before mutter, "focus Dawn."

Paul smirked at her, "well you seem better."

She smiled, "Yeah, I am. We talked and sorted it all out. Would it be okay if we spent another day together and I spent today with Leaf?"

Paul nodded, "sure."

"Thanks Paul." Dawn said as she tenderly reached up and kissed him on the cheek before turning to leave.

He watched her go as he sighed. He needed to get a grip.

* * *

"Okay, how about we start small. Why don't you just say it out loud at a normal volume? Sex." Dawn said to Leaf. They were walking around the Hearthhome Mall while Dawn was trying to help Leaf become more comfortable talking about sex."

Leaf visibly paled and Dawn sighed.

"Leaf, it's okay. You just need to remember that it's me. I'm your best friend and I will never laugh at you. Gary loves you; he will never laugh at you either. But realistically if you can't say the word sex then you really shouldn't be having it."

"Wow, you're absolutely right." Leaf looked thoughtful for a moment before repeating, "You're absolutely right," with a disbelieving tone.

Before Dawn could blink Leaf walked over to the nearest bench and stood up on the seat and yelled "SEX!"

Dawn sweat dropped. Well that was much better than what she thought was going to happen.

Leaf was receiving embarrassing looks from people and although her cheeks were flushed she had a grin on her face, "I did it!"

"Yes you did!" Dawn laughed.

"Wow that was so cool! Sex! See it's not so hard now."

"Well I'm really glad."

"No really. Dawn, you have no idea what you've done for me. Thankyou," Leaf said sincerely.

"Well how about now we hit up Victoria's Secret, I could use a new outfit to surprise Paul with anyway."

Leaf once again flushed pink but quickly recovered as she walked after Dawn.

* * *

Gary was seated in the living room of their home when he heard Leaf call out to him from the bedroom.

"Coming! Just a second!" He called out as he reached for the TV remote to switch it off.

He absentmindedly ran a hand through his spiky hair as he reached their bedroom door.

When he saw Leaf he tripped over his own foot and fell to the floor. His mouth was going dry. Leaf was standing by their ensuite door, dressed in lacy black lingerie with red lipstick and red high heels.

"Hey sexy," she said. Inside she was ridiculously nervous, but she was trying to remember Dawn's advice from that day. If you act confident you will start to be confident. '_You can do this_' she thought to herself.

"H-hey," Gary said, his voice cracking.

"Sit down on the bed."

Gary scrambled to get up and sit on the bed. Leaf smirked as she walked over to him and pushed him back on the bed, "no talking."

Leaf had never seen Gary so shocked before. She made a mental note to thank Dawn for the billionth time, before she slowly climbed over Gary and kissed him slowly. This was going to be the best night ever.

* * *

It had been a long day for Paul. The weekend had come and gone and it was once again Monday. But the day had just kept going and going. Finally, he was finished though and he was looking forward to getting a pizza on the way home before a quiet night in to begin the 'Harry Potter' books Dawn loved so much.

He wasn't looking forward to it one bit but he had agreed to read the first one and see how it went. In return she had begun to read The Taming of The Shrew the night before. She had already texted him that day tell him how much she liked it so far. A few months ago he would have never guessed that he would find out he had he and Dawn had the same taste in books.

As he reached the lobby of the building he saw Leaf by the door.

"Paul, I was hoping to run into you."

When it became clear that he was not going to reply she continued, "Want to get a drink?"

He nodded and let Leaf lead the way to a wine bar a few blocks from his and Gary's office. After they had ordered their drinks Leaf began to talk.

"I owe you an apology Paul. I'm really sorry that I insulted you and Dawn the other day."

"Good."

"Paul, don't be like that. Look I know I was out of line, but you're one of my best friends and I don't want this to come between us."

"Well if we are such close friends why would you imply that sleeping with me was 'sinking low?'"

Leaf bit her lip, ashamed. "Look Paul, I didn't mean it. I think that you and Dawn would be great together; I just had some trouble getting my head around the idea of you being 'friends with benefits'. But then I realised how much you clearly care for her and well…I'm so happy that you've found someone that makes you happy and makes you smile and want to open up a bit. I guess what I'm trying to say is that she is good for you, Paul. And I think it's becoming clear that you're really good for her too."

"I don't like Dawn. Stop saying it."

"But I thought –"

"Well you thought wrong." Paul said sharply. He took out his wallet and placed some money on the table before walking over to a girl who was by herself at the bar.

Leaf watched curiously as Paul walked over to her and whispered something in her ear. She smiled and grabbed Paul's arm as they walked out of the bar. '_Wow, who knew Paul had so much game?'_ She thought to herself, shaking her head.

Someone was going to get hurt, and at this point she wasn't sure which one of them it was going to be. But she had done enough damage; she was just going to try her best to be supportive.

Downing the rest of her drink, she headed for the door. She had a feeling things were about to get interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

Dawn was adding the finishing touches to her mascara when she heard her phone ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Dawn; its Ash. How are you?"

"Hey Ash, things are fine. How are you? Long time, no speak!"

"Yeah," Ash laughed, "things are good with me too. Really good actually. So um, I was actually calling to ask you for a favour."

Dawn smiled, "for you Ash? Anything."

"Well…what are you doing tomorrow?"

* * *

Paul walked down Liberty Road, enjoying the beautiful morning sunshine. He knew today was going to be a good day. He and Gary were meeting for coffee early so they could read Dawn's review of their firm.

"Cecilia, it's good to see you." He winked at her and she smirked at him.

"Well someone's in a good mood today. I wonder why," she rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Can't a guy come and greet his favourite news retailer once in a while without being accused of having a hidden agenda?"

"Not when 'a guy' usually is grumpy."

She gave him a stern look and he smirked, it was his favourite type of banter.

"You're a hard woman Cecelia," Paul joked, "I'll take my usual thanks."

She handed him his order but gripped it tightly when he tried to take it from her hands.

"Paul, this girl is good for you. It's good to see you happy."

He looked taken aback but nodded ever so slightly. He took his order silently, leaving a $20 note and walking onwards to meet Gary.

* * *

_It wouldn't be a surprise if we saw the company directors, Paul Shinji and Gary Oak running the top marketing firm in all of Sinnoh in a few years. _

_They did not admit to any future expansion plans but I suspect that with such business savvy skills they will be building an empire in no time. _

_After achieving these accomplishments at such a young age, it will be interesting to see where they will be in 10 years in the business world._

_Paul Shinji and Gary Oak? Definitely a 'Success to Watch'._

Paul and Gary had finished reading the one page article about their business and some personal aspects of their individual careers.

"Dude that was cool," Gary said as he went to scrunch the paper up. He looked confused when Paul stopped him.

"I'll read it again later."

"Did you think it was good?"

"Yeah. She said some really good things for our business."

Gary looked sceptical, "Pfft, she said some really good things about _you_."

"Mmm." Paul wasn't in the mood to talk. He didn't want to risk blurting out it was the best article he'd ever read. He certainly didn't want to accidentally tell the world that he loved her writing more than anything. And above all he didn't want anyone know how her words had affected him. She _had_ said some really nice things about him. He shook his head to try and erase his thoughts.

"So are you coming to Ash's birthday this weekend?" Gary asked; he would probably forget about the article entirely after they left the coffee shop.

"Yeah I am."

"Cool. It should be good, I'm pretty sure he's invited a fair few people this year for some reason."

"Well I gotta go; I'll see you at Ash's."

"Later."

* * *

"Ash, are you okay? It seems like something's bothering you."

Ash rubbed his hands on his sides a few times before running them through his hair. He was looking around anxiously at pretty much anywhere but Dawn. They were at the food court in the mall, where Ash had asked Dawn to meet him on the phone yesterday.

"Okay, if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell _anyone_."

"I promise."

Ash took a deep breath before leaning in closer to Dawn's face and whispering ever so slightly, "I'm planning on asking Misty to marry me on Saturday night at my birthday."

Dawn squealed loudly before clamping her hand over her mouth, her eyes had gone wide as she stared at Ash excitedly.

"Oh my god! Ash, that's great!"

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, relieved that he had finally told someone, "Dawn I'm so nervous I can barely been in the same room as her."

Dawn laughed, "Aww Ash that's adorable! Just try not to panic. And remember, Misty loves you more than anything in the world. Have you bought her a ring yet?"

"Yeah, I know. It's still hard though. She does have the option of saying no after all. As for the ring, well, I was kind of hoping you'd help me with that part," he said sheepishly.

"I'd love to help you Ash! Misty is simple and classic, something plain but not boring will be perfect for her."

"And this is why I wanted you to help me. Leaf and May aren't as good with shopping. I just want everything to be perfect."

"C'mon, let's look around," Dawn replied, smiling brightly. Ash and Misty made a beautiful couple. She knew they were going be very happy together.

* * *

After looking around for nearly 4 hours, he was sure he had found it.

"Dawn! This is it, this is it!" He looked like a child in a candy store jumping up and down and yelling excitedly.

She was over the other side of the store looking around, so she turned and walked over to see which ring he was looking at.

She gasped, "Ash, its perfect."

He looked at her seriously, "You mean it? Are you sure? Cause there is like a billion other rings that we could look at." He was second guessing himself already, which had happened plenty of times that day. It made sense though; getting engaged was a big decision.

"I'm sure. Misty is going to love it." It was a plain, thin, silver band with one square diamond on it. Misty wasn't the kind of person who loved sparkles or extravagant pieces of jewellery; but this, it was exactly to her taste.

"Excuse me miss," Ash said to the sales assistant, "I'd like to take this one."

"It's a good choice sir. I will prepare a gift box, if you'd like to follow me over to the cash register and we'll get started."

Dawn smiled fondly as she watched Ash follow the sales clerk. Misty was certainly a lucky girl. When it was clear Ash would be a while figuring out sizing and engraving details she decided to look around the store.

It was Tiffany and Co – which was one of her favourite stores ever. She passed the engagement rings and browsed a few bracelets. She loved everything she saw. It wasn't until she reached the left side of the store nearest the door that she saw it.

It was a beautiful silver chained necklace with a round pendant dangling which had little diamond studs that went all the way around the circle, which was hollow in the middle. She was so engrossed that she didn't realise someone approach her.

"Can I help you miss?" A different sales assistant had approached her.

"Oh, I was just looking. Thanks though."

"It's a really beautiful necklace isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's gorgeous." Dawn replied.

"They are diamonds, even though they are not white like usual. It comes in all different colours if you'd like to have a look?"

"Oh, that's okay. I think this one right here is perfect anyway."

"Dawn, are you ready to go?" She heard Ash call out across the store.

She looked back to the sales assistant and smiled before heading over towards Ash.

"Yep, let's go."

They walked out of the store together laughing and deciding to head and get some more food for Ash before heading home.

They had been too caught up in each other's jokes to notice that Paul had accidentally run into them. He was at the Mall looking for a new pair of jeans when he had saw her blue hair out the corner of his eye and stopped to watch her when he realised she was look at something.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he went in to the store where they had walked from.

* * *

To _Paul  
_From_ Troublesome_

_Hey you, want me to come over tomorrow before Ash's?_

* * *

To _Troublesome  
_From _Paul_

_I have to get a new pair of jeans. I was supposed to get them the other day but I got side-tracked. I hate shopping. Maybe after?_

* * *

To _Paul  
_From _Troublesome_

_How about I do the shopping for you, then I'll come over to yours? _

* * *

To _Troublesome  
_From _Paul_

_If you were to do that for me, I'll make it up to you when you get here._

Dawn smiled as she received the message. She quickly typed a reply, agreeing to shop in the morning before heading to his place. She never rushed shopping, but tomorrow she would. She hadn't seen Paul for a few days and the fact that he was going to 'owe' her meant that it was going to be an extremely good day.

* * *

Dawn had spent a heap of money on basically a whole new wardrobe for Paul. Realistically, he should never have left her in charge. She had bought him new jeans, new shoes, new tops, she had even bought him a few knitted V-neck jumpers and a cardigan. A _cardigan._ She giggled to herself when she realised how unimpressed he was going to be. But if she knew anything, it was fashion, and she was one hundred percent sure that he was going to look _very_ sexy. Her favourite out of all the items was a black leather jacket; she figured it would match his brooding attitude.

Nothing was sexier that a man in leather jacket, and Paul was a smart guy; he would soon figure out that wearing that jacket would result in Dawn being naked very often.

While lost in her thoughts she wasn't watching where she was going and proceeded to walk into something – or someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going and I should really be more careful." She was babbling on so fast that she hadn't even taken a look at the person.

When her eyes finally reached his face she saw him grinning brightly at her. She could feel her cheeks flush. They were both on the ground sitting with their hands behind them, facing each other.

"Oh, it's you," she said shyly.

"And it's, you," he replied cheekily, "here, let me help you." The guy got up and offered her a hand, helping her fetch all of her bags from the ground.

"It's Ritchie, right?" She asked as she grabbed some of her bags off him. She realised he was still carrying some of them and smiled. No one had ever done that for her before.

"Yeah, it's good to see you again Dawn. I'm not going to lie, I've been thinking about trying to find you for the last few weeks, I just wasn't sure where to start."

"Really?" She asked in disbelief, "but why would you want to find me?"

He grinned even wider, if that was even possible, "I just thought you were cute. The fact that you just asked why I would want to find you proves that. Here, let me buy you a coffee."

She nodded but stared after him as he walked off. When she realised he had half of her bags she finally began to walk after him. He had wanted to find her, which meant he had been thinking about her right? That was so nice! She had wondered about him too. Maybe it was fate. Maybe this was meant to happen and they were meant to see each other again.

She smiled at the thought as she took a seat in the coffee shop he had led her too.

Dawn had finished her drink and realised it was early in the afternoon, "Ritchie this has been…amazing, but I do have somewhere I have to be." She had begun to stand up, and Ritchie politely stood as she did.

"Dawn, I'd love to see you again soon. Could I have your number?"

She felt like a high school girl again as she flushed pink. She even felt a bit nervous; a cute guy wanted her number. A cute, _nice_ guy wanted her number. Her ex-boyfriend, Barry had treated her like a piece of shit for the three years they had dated. He had even _called_ her a piece of shit once. Her heart sank at the thought.

She had been so naïve to realise that that wasn't how relationships should be. When she finally realised that she deserved better than that, she already had a ridiculous amount of trust issues with men. It was part of the reason she had been so willing to be casual with Paul. She no longer had relationships with feelings, after all.

"Dawn?" Ritchie called her attention, placing a hand on her upper arm as he looked at her with concern.

"Oh. I'm sorry I spaced out for a second there." She bit her lip, wondering if she should give him her number. She liked Ritchie so far. He had been sweet and caring and considerate. After a final wave of doubt she figured, 'why not?'

"Sure."

He smiled, letting out a relieved breath. He must have thought she was going to say no.

* * *

Paul looked in the mirror. He had to admit, Dawn had done a good job. He had forgotten to tell her his sizes yet she had still managed to get everything to fit perfectly.

He was wearing dark blue skinny jeans with a black V-neck knitted jumper. He was wearing a white t-shirt underneath which was showing at the top. He had even put on the new shoes Dawn had bought him, which were light grey sneakers with white laces. It was very different to what he would usually choose but he liked it, which surprised him on so many levels.

Gary and Leaf had arrived, as the four of them were going to Ash's together. Now that the two knew, they didn't have to hide the fact that they spent a fair bit of time at each other's places.

Dawn was using the other bathroom to do her hair and makeup while chatting to Leaf and Gary was god knows where. If any of the three had to guess, they would say Gary was watching the sports channel on his TV.

"So how did you go with Gary after our shopping trip?" Dawn asked Leaf slyly as she straightened her hair.

Leaf blushed, "it was good," she paused before taking a deep breath, "actually it was great, thankyou Dawn. To be honest it feels like Gary and I are connecting on a whole new level. It's making me even happier than I've always been, and I'm pretty sure he feels the same, even if he wouldn't admit to it." She had a genuine smile on her face as she talked about her relationship with Gary.

Dawn was pleased to see her friend so happy in life.

"But enough about me! How are things with you?"

"Really good. Paul is well, Paul. And I met a guy today. Well, I met him for the first time in the elevator when I went to interview Paul and Gary, but then I ran into him at the mall today and he bought me a coffee and we chatted. He's really sweet."

Leaf looked a little confused. She legitimately thought that Dawn had feelings for Paul and that she was waiting until he eventually realised he had feelings for her too. But this was weird, she seemed genuinely happy about meeting some new guy and going on a little date, even if it was unplanned.

"Well, that's good. Who is this guy?"

"Leaf! Dawn! Let's go!" Gary yelled out to them. They rolled their eyes at his impatience and walked out to the living area.

Paul walked out behind them and grabbed his keys. "Yeah Gary's right, we should leave now cause we are already slightly late."

He was looking at his phone as he walked out. When there was no response to his statement he looked up, wondering why it was so quiet.

Dawn, Leaf and Gary were staring wide-eyed at Paul.

"What?" he asked.

"Your clothes are different…" Gary said as he looked at Paul. Paul hated change. Like he _really_ hated change. Yet here he was, standing in front of him in new clothes, wearing a knitted jumper and Gary was sure he had once heard him claim he'd never be caught dead in one.

"Paul you look hot!" Leaf practically screamed.

"Told you," Dawn smirked, folding her arms across her body.

"Wait a minute, you let Dawn dress you?" Gary asked shocked.

"Well that explains why you look so good," Leaf joked.

"Yeah, yeah shut up." Paul said, annoyed. He never usually cared what people thought, but now that they had made fun of him he was tempted to go change his clothes. He knew that would be even worse though so he was stuck with what he had. The four walked out of Paul's apartment and got in the elevator.

Gary and Leaf were chatting amongst themselves as he put his arms around her waist. Dawn saw how happy they looked – it was nice to see.

"Hey, don't worry about them. You look really sexy," Dawn whispered as she grabbed Paul's hand and squeezed it before putting it back by her side.

He looked at her strangely before leaning over and whispering in her ear, "you too."

She smiled at him, deciding it was nice that he thought she looked good. She had tried to look a bit more casual tonight, wearing tight indigo skinny jeans and an off the shoulder black top, with black high heeled boots. It was about as casual as she got.

Paul was kicking himself on the inside for suddenly feeling good about what he was wearing. He hated that she affected him so easily.

* * *

"Hey guys," Misty greeted as she opened the door. Leaf and Dawn gave her a thumbs up in regards to her outfit and she smiled shyly in return.

Dawn noticed she had worn her hair down, which was unusual for the redhead. She wondered if she did it because Ash loved it when she wore it down. Maybe it was like an added birthday present.

Leaf looked over at Paul as the four walked in to find Ash. Dawn had seen him first and ran to tackle him in a bear hug. With no one paying attention she leaned over to him.

"You and Dawn sure seem close for two people who are just friends."

He growled at her but said nothing.

"Hey happy birthday," he said to Ash as he shook his hand.

"Thanks Paul, it's good to see you."

Paul nodded and stalked off.

Leaf rolled her eyes, the guy was downright stubborn. She had reached Ash and gave him a big hug, wishing him a happy birthday as well.

"Looks like you're getting old," she winked.

Ash laughed wholeheartedly, "Yeah, it certainly seems like I'm growing up aye?"

Narrowing her eyes, she wondered what that meant as she watched him walk off to greet some of the other guests.

Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother, was in the corner talking to Gary and Drew animatedly about a new lemon tree she was growing. She smiled, Delia was pretty lonely, and it meant a lot to her that almost all of Ash's friends went out of their way to stay in contact her with her.

Gary and Drew video phoned her frequently and Leaf herself shared gardening tips with her, as she was also a big fan of nature.

Leaf's thoughts were interrupted when Ash called a toast. Everyone gathered in the dining room as he coughed twice before beginning to speak.

"Hey guys," he fidgeted nervously before letting out a breath, "I just want to thank you all for coming tonight. I know it seems like 'just another birthday', but it means a lot to know that I have so many people in my life that care about me, and that I care deeply about."

A few awes were heard amongst the relatively small crowd as they continued to listen.

"Now I have been thinking about tonight for a while; and I want to just say thankyou to my mum, for being there for me and for showing me what unconditional love is all about. It's because of you that I know how to open myself up to new possibilities, and new beginnings."

As much as the speech was nice, most of the people in the room looked a bit confused about where he was going with it. He failed to supress a grin as he winked at Dawn, who was grinning just as brightly in return.

"It's for this reason that I want to call up my amazing girlfriend Misty for a minute." She had been standing beside Delia, and moved to the front as she wondered what Ash was doing.

"Misty," he held her hand as she joined him at the front of the crowd, "you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. You are the love of my life and my best friend in the entire world. When I was seven years old, I swore I'd never meet a woman that I'd love as much as my mother. But then I met you, and I fell in love with your beautiful hair, your heart of gold and the way you chew the ends of your pens."

Misty had looked confused the entire time, until a look of shock crossed her face. Her free hand reached her mouth as Ash turned towards her and began to kneel down.

"Which is why," he let go of her hand momentarily to open up the ring behind his back, "Misty Waterflower, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be there for you through thick and thin. And I want to have a billion tiny little red head babies with you. Would you do me the honour of being my wife?"

Misty couldn't say anything. She was speechless. She knew Ash loved her, but for him to say such beautiful things to her, and in front of all of their family and friends.

Her eyes began to water at the edge as she nodded, "I love you."

Ash looked momentarily happy before a look of shock crossed his face, he was still on the ground, "wait is that a yes?"

She laughed as a single tear slipped from her eye, "Yes!"

He jumped up quickly and hugged her, picking her up off the ground as he did so.

The crowd clapped and wolf-whistled, whilst Delia wiped her eyes, she was also crying at her sons beautiful speech.

He put her down on the ground but held her close, they were both beaming happily. He slowly grabbed her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. Then he grabbed her, leaned her back and kissed her ever so gently.

They spent the rest of the night holding hands as they spoke to their guests. It was the best night of both of their lives. They looked radiant and it was obvious to everyone how in love they were.

Dawn took the opportunity to talk to Delia after she had finished congratulating Ash and Misty. She had even told Misty that she had supervised Ash as he picked the ring.

Misty had been shocked to know that Ash had chosen the ring for her and not Dawn, it was clear that she loved it so much more just knowing that he had chosen it for her to wear forever.

"Hey, isn't it exciting?" Dawn asked as Delia enveloped her in a bear hug.

"My sweet Ash is growing up! I could never have hoped for a better daughter in law. They make a beautiful couple don't they?" She wiped her eyes gently, the excitement still causing her to tear up at how happy her son was.

"They do," Dawn agreed, "I'm so happy for them."

Delia nodded, "Oh and the wedding planning! Everything is going to be so much fun."

Dawn didn't get a chance to respond as someone had entered the conversation.

"Delia, how are you? It's been much too long." Ritchie asked as he swooped in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Ritchie, you are such a sweetheart," she looked at Dawn cheekily before continuing, "He calls me every week to check up on me."

She paused for a minute, looking between the two, "Oh, you two probably haven't met, have you?"

"Actually we have," Ritchie said charmingly, smiling towards Dawn, "I had the pleasure of having coffee with her today."

Delia looked at them knowingly before smiling and excusing herself to talk to Ash.

"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked surprised.

"Ash and I have been friends since we were little. Delia's basically my second mum."

"Aw, that's so sweet. It's a really small world, huh?"

"Yeah. Do you want to get a drink?" Ritchie grinned.

"Sure," Dawn laughed, "you know, it is actually creepy how alike you and Ash are! I thought that you reminded me of him when I first met you, and that was before learning that you apparently know each other."

"Yeah, we get that a lot," he said, scratching the back of his head in a way that only Ash would, "when we were younger we used to joke about being twins. We used to get in a lot of trouble that was for sure."

Dawn giggled, Ritchie was funny. It was weird how alike he and Ash seemed to be but at the same time they were also so very different. He laughed too as he led her to the drinks table.

* * *

"So what do you do for a living?" A girl with purple hair asked Paul flirtatiously.

"I own a marketing firm." He said in a bored tone, wondering why he was even talking to her. He figured he would go home with her after the party, but the talking thing was not working for him one bit.

"Well that sounds interesting. Maybe we should go out sometime and talk a bit more about it, she said suggestively as she took a step closer to him. He smirked as he took another sip of his drink before excusing himself to grab another.

* * *

"Hey man, could you chuck me that bottle opener?" Ritchie asked a guy who was next to him in front of the opener.

The guy looked him up and down then handed him the bottle opener while scoffing.

"Um, is there something wrong? I'm Ritchie, it's nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand.

"Paul," he replied, not bothering to shake his hand.

"Okay then. You don't need to be so hostile man. Lighten up."

"Well maybe not all of us feel the need to be loud and obnoxious," Paul said, looking Ritchie in the eye. They were about the same height which made it easy.

"You don't even know me. I mean Ash said you could be a bit moody sometimes around new people but I haven't done anything to you," Ritchie defended.

"Well you've been talking to that girl all night like you think you actually have a chance. Maybe you should try to be a little less cocky she'd never go for a guy like you."

"What? Dawn? She gave me her number today so actually I'd say she would definitely go for a guy like me," Ritchie said, offended at Paul's insinuation that he couldn't get a girl like Dawn.

"Pftt. Whatever," Paul said, glaring at Ritchie before walking back to Iris, the girl he had been listening to all night.

"Well I'll prove it then," he mumbled under his breath.

* * *

"So then, Ash slipped in the mud, and ended up face first in the bucket of strawberries!" Ritchie said loudly as he and Dawn laughed.

She held her stomach to try and make her stitch go away. She wiped a tear from her eye as she continued to laugh, "Oh my god I'm picturing it now!"

"Yeah, and then the guy came over, and Ash just started eating them because he loved the taste of the ones all over him. I thought for sure he was going to kill us. Luckily he didn't though."

Ritchie finished as they had started to calm down.

"Wow, I never realised that Ash was even more of a klutz when he was younger."

"Pfft says the girl who was too busy daydreaming to realise she was walking straight into me yesterday."

He was standing beside her, nudging her cheekily. She poked her tongue out at him in return.

She looked up at him as their conversation started to dwindle. He was very handsome. She thought it was amusing considering she'd never been attracted to Ash, but Ritchie? Well he was another story. He was respectful, polite, nice and funny. He was a lot like her, except not quite as loud.

She liked that. She liked that they were quite similar. She was about to suggest they hang out again sometime soon when she realised that he was looking at her curiously.

Their eyes met. His eyes briefly flickered to somewhere else in the room and he smirked before leaning down towards her.

His face was inching closer and closer and her eyes were just starting to flutter closed.

But it never came. Her eyes flew open to see Paul push Ritchie back and punch him square in the jaw.

It was as if Ritchie had seen it coming though, as he quickly reacted and threw back his own punch. It happened quickly but Paul managed ended up on the top end of the fight.

She momentarily didn't know what to do. Luckily, Gary and Drew had jumped in to get Paul off Ritchie and hold him back from throwing anymore punches. Ritchie ended up on the ground after the second punch.

Ash had raced over to make sure Ritchie didn't try to punch Paul in return.

"PAUL!" Dawn screamed as she moved to stand in front of him.

It wasn't until he looked at her that he began to calm down.

Drew and Gary let go of his arms and he stood there motionless.

"What are you doing!" Dawn yelled. When it became clear that he was too shocked to respond she glared and turned to Ritchie, kneeling down beside him.

"Are you okay?" She asked gently, not bothering to turn as she heard Paul grunt and storm off somewhere.

He nodded, "Yeah I'm sure I'll be fine. The guy sure knows how to throw a punch." He said, placing a finger to his lip – it was bleeding.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know why Paul did that." She said honestly as she examined his lip.

"Oh I have an idea," he said sarcastically.

Dawn looked confused, but was interrupted as Ash joined the conversation.

"Dude what happened?"

"I don't know. He just came out of nowhere and punched me in the face." Ritchie said innocently.

Drew rolled his eyes but said nothing.

Ash and Dawn helped him up to stand.

"Look, I should probably go and see if he's okay," Dawn said, twisting her fingers together.

Ritchie scoffed, "Dawn, you can check on him if you want. But if you do, I don't think we should hang out again."

She looked at him seriously for a moment, pursing her lips. After a few moments she relaxed into a soft smile.

"Ritchie, you're a good guy. But I have to go."

She walked past all of the staring eyes to go to the freezer. After grabbing an ice pack and putting a flannel under the tap water, she walked out to the backyard.

She found Paul pacing back and forth near the outdoor dining table.

"You should sit," she said as she moved towards the two chairs that were there.

He spun around quickly when she spoke, apparently not knowing that she was there. He silently moved to sit on the chair and she moved hers closer to examine his hand. It was quite badly bruised and there were a few cuts on his knuckles. After wiping the little bits of blood from his hand she looked to his face. He had a large cut above his left eye.

She wiped it gently, and noticed that he winced. It must have stung. She then handed him the ice and he placed it on his head.

"Paul. What was that back there?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me. What the hell were you thinking?" Her voice stern as she waited for a reply.

He rolled his eyes before looking at his hand, "you were about to kiss that dick right in front of me."

"I'm sorry what?"

"You heard me." He said, meeting her eyes.

"You hit a guy that I liked because you were jealous," she scoffed as she crossed her arms.

"No. I hit that guy because he was a dick."

"Paul you are unbelievable!" Dawn yelled, she looked positively furious, "How dare you? You get to go and be with a billion different girls, yet when I meet someone who treats me nicely then you get to punch him. How is that fair? We agreed we could be with other people Paul." She was pacing and waving her hands wildly.

"Well I'm sorry for not wanting to see some guy put his hands all over you." Paul said as he stood up, his voice was raised. "You didn't hear what he said earlier. He was only trying to kiss you to get to me."

"You don't think it was hard for me tonight? To see you talking to Iris and watching her throw herself at you? And Paul, not everything is all about you. Maybe Ritchie wanted to kiss me because he liked me."

"He was only trying to get to me I swear! He smirked at me right before he went for it!"

"You know what Paul. That's enough. You are exactly the same as every other guy on the planet. I can't believe I was starting to think that you were any different." She was standing now, with her hand rubbing her temple.

"Wait, what are you saying?" he asked with worry seeping through his tone.

"I'm saying, I think we should stop this," she whispered as she lowered her head, her hair falling in her eyes.

"No. Don't do this," he had never felt or looked more vulnerable.

She shook her head and started to turn to walk off.

"Don't go, I don't want you to go," he said, his voice breaking ever so slightly as he grabbed wrist.

"Please," he said as she paused momentarily, "I want you to stay."

She let out a deep breath before she whispered, "you have to let me go Paul."

With that she walked off, leaving Paul to stare after her. He felt awful, like a part of him had been ripped up and burnt.

After a few minutes he angrily threw the icepack at the fence, grunting loudly as he did so. Roughly sitting down on the chair, he leant his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands.

He may not have been crying, but the six friends watching from inside knew that this was the most emotional reaction they had ever seen from Paul. No one knew where Dawn had decided to walk off to but they were extremely worried.

"I knew this was going to happen," Leaf said as she turned away from the kitchen window, "I knew someone was going to get hurt."

"Well it looks like both of them are hurt now," Misty said sadly. Ash had his arm around her comfortingly, he was worried about his friends.

"Look lets figure out a game plan. Gary you deal with Paul, and me and May will find Dawn. Misty, Ash your one job tonight is to have a romantic night together. You are engaged, you should at least get to enjoy some of it," Leaf said seriously.

Misty and Ash sighed, this wasn't how they had planned to spend their first night as an engaged couple.

"I cant." Gary said as he kept his eyes glued to Paul through the window. He still hadn't moved from that spot.

"What do you mean? He's your best friend!" Leaf said appalled.

"Yeah. He is. But I can't help him. I don't know how to help him like this."

"I'll do it." Drew volunteered. Gary looked at him thankfully.

"Seriously. I appreciate it."

"Trust me, I get what Paul is feeling. Let's leave him for now and then I'll go and talk to him."

"Let me know how you go," May said as she moved in to kiss Drew on the cheek.

Before anyone can move Ash interrupted, "So is there something I'm missing?"

Everyone stared at him blankly before moving off to put their 'game plan' into play.

May and Leaf walked to the door to see if they could track down Dawn. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Drew had left Paul for an hour, giving him time to cool off and let himself feel what he was feeling. Paul was still sitting in the same spot, completely still.

Drew sighed as he opened the back door and started to walk over to Paul.

"Hey," he said, with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Paul looked up but didn't say anything. He looked so sad and confused.

"Dude I saw Ritchie bait you earlier. And quite frankly, he reacted way too quickly for someone who didn't know he was going to get punched."

Paul continued to sit in silence. He had now moved to have his hands behind his head as he slumped back in the chair.

"But Dawn is right too. You were all over another girl all night and you don't see her acting crazy."

"She told me it's over." Paul whispered.

"Ouch. Sorry man."

They sat in silence for a while before Paul looked over to Drew with wonder. "Did Gary tell you?"

"Pfft. No. Paul I've known how you feel about Dawn since the first day I saw you both in the same room together. I think our friends are naïve to think you guys actually hated each other all this time when it's so obvious that you both have feelings for each other.

"I DON'T HAVE FEELINGS FOR DAWN!" Paul practically yelled. He really needed to get a grip on his emotions.

Drew stayed calm. "Really? Then why did you feel the need to punch Ritchie out?"

"Because he was being a dick," Paul defended himself as he scoffed.

"Okay," Drew began cautiously, "then why do you go and grab another girl every time someone starts to tell you that you have feelings for her."

"What? That's not true, I don't do that." Paul said. He was getting annoyed at this point. Why did everyone keep saying that to him?

"Paul. You're a smart guy, think about it. You sleep with other women to prove that you don't have feelings for Dawn, when all you're really proving is that you want her more than anything."

Paul had gotten up to stand now, and was pacing slowly but angrily. He had stopped answering Drew by now.

"Just admit it, tell me why you punched him tonight!" Drew had raised his voice; it was the only way he was going to get through to him.

"I was trying to protect her! I didn't want her to get hurt!" Paul was pissed.

"But WHY? _WHY_ do you feel the need to protect her?"

Paul stopped pacing and looked at Drew blankly. After a few moments he pursed his lips together tightly before whispering.

"I don't know."

Drew smiled, "Finally, we're getting somewhere. C'mon, ill drive you home. I didn't have a drink tonight."

Paul nodded but said nothing, which Drew was happy with. After all, he had managed to get Paul to say more than three words.

They walked back inside to see three very worried faces staring at them.

Paul inwardly groaned as he realised he'd have to face the music eventually.

"Ash, Misty.." He began, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your night. And I know that after what I did tonight, I am probably not going to see much of you guys so I truly wish you all the best. Congratulations on your marriage." It was quiet and sincere.

As a result, Misty did something extremely uncharacteristically as she walked up to Paul and hugged him tightly.

His mouth opened out of surprise but he realised that he had changed. He felt different, and because of it he awkwardly embraced her in return.

Ash smiled, and Gary and Drew just watched curiously as she pulled away from him and looked at his face.

"Paul, you are always welcome here. And you are as much a part of our awkward little family as Dawn is. We'll be seeing you real soon."

He pursed his lips together; he had never really considered them to be like his extended family. He had always pushed people away ever since he was little. He would never admit it but he felt abandoned when his mother died, and that wasn't even including this issues he had from his father's leaving.

He offered her a small smile, "Thanks."

The next part happened suddenly, as Ash yelled out, "GROUP HUG."

Ash jumped in hugging Misty and Paul, while Gary smirked and decided to get in on the cheese. Drew was reluctantly pulled in a soon they all were laughing and how weird it would look from outside. Well, everyone was laughing except Paul. He was hardly happy about all the hugging but deep down, he appreciated the gesture.

After they all pulled away Paul looked at Gary.

"I'm not coming in to work."

Gary looked surprised but nodded, "take as long as you need. You have that much annual leave saved up you could pretty much take three months off consecutively if you wanted," he joked.

Paul looked solemn and left with Drew; he had a lot of thinking to do.

* * *

Dawn turned her phone off, after hearing it ring for the 20th time. She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to see anyone. She just wanted to go home.

When she finally reached her house, she paid the cab driver and stumbled into her house. She felt weak, like she had just run a marathon.

She didn't even both to change her clothes, she just kicked her shoes off and laid down on her bed, pulling her pillow in tightly as she hugged it.

Slowly but surely, she let the tears fall. Everything was quiet and she must have laid there for hours just crying to herself.

She heard keys rattle and her door open, but she didn't panic.

"Dawn! Dawn? Are you here?" Leaf yelled, with May trailing behind as they walked into her bedroom, stopping and staring when they saw her.

"Aw, Dawn its okay," May looked solemn as she watched the girl laying on the bed. She had mascara running down her face and onto her white pillows.

They both climbed onto her bed with her, with Leaf beginning to trace circles on her back soothingly.

May laid down on the other side of Dawn and the three stayed there silently for what seemed like hours until they all eventually drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Paul stirred as he began to wake up. He groaned as he realised it was daylight and turned over in an attempt to keep sleeping for a few more hours.

When it became clear that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, he opened his eyes and sighed, he really didn't want to get out of bed.

It had been a month since Ash's birthday and Paul had done nothing but wallow in self-pity ever since. His days mostly consisted of drinking, reading Harry Potter and re-reading Dawn's Twilight Series.

He frowned at the memory. It turned out he loved Harry Potter as much as Dawn's series. How could she have possibly known that he would love them? He hated that she knew him so well. But if he was honest with himself, he hated that he had let her go into the hands of another guy.

He groaned as he for the billionth time pictured her and Ritchie happily hanging out with all of their friends. Why was he such an idiot?

He decided to get up and have a shower. He hadn't shaved in weeks and he had a rather long purple beard as a result.

After turning on the water, he stepped into the shower. Like all his other showers in the past month, he glared at the strawberry body wash. But, like the other times he eventually gave in and opened it. It reminded him of her and for a brief moment he would feel better; then reality would hit him and he would feel even worse. It was a vicious cycle.

Paul had done a lot of thinking over the past month, and he had realised that somewhere, somehow he had managed to develop feelings for Dawn. He wasn't quite sure what they were, but he was sure that they were there.

All of his friends had visited at some point, but they had given up when they realised he wasn't in a good place.

Finishing in the shower, he entered his wardrobe. Another ritual he had developed was glaring at his full wardrobe where all the clothes she had bought him were hanging. He pulled on some trackies and a t-shirt – ones that she had not chosen for him as he dried hair with his towel.

Resigning that he had nothing to do today, he decided to sit in his library for a while.

He had ordered a really nice, cloth-covered set of Harry Potter books for his collection and he needed to find a place for them to sit.

He sighed as he looked at the books on the walls. In the middle row sat _her_ books. He had read them a billion times. At least now that she wasn't coming over anymore he didn't have to keep hiding them and therefore leaving a gap in his shelf.

He began to move them all around, making room for the Harry Potter series just next to hers.

Paul decided breakfast was as good a time as any for some vodka so he poured himself a drink and sat down on the couch with is laptop.

He had not left the house in a month, and had resigned to reading _The Local _online. The new edition of _Rouge_ was due to come out today, and he wanted to see what she was writing about.

_Hey readers,_

_I wanted to give you a little bit of personal advice this month. It's going to be a short one but I feel you all should know how to protect yourselves from getting hurt._

_When you meet someone that you have feelings for – tell them. Don't wait too long or you'll not only hurt yourself, but the person you like too._

_With Valentine's Day coming up, I think it's important to embrace love and lust and just enjoy life. Life's too short to wait._

_I'll be sitting in watching The Notebook with a big box of chocolates this year!_

_Love Dawn xxx_

Paul wanted to punch himself. He did this to her. He made her sad. He was ashamed.

Sighing, he signed in to the site under his login and began to type.

_Dear Dawn,_

_I messed up. I hurt someone that I care about and I need to know how to fix it. What should I do?_

_Your Biggest Fan._

He had finished his drink by the time she replied.

_To My Biggest Fan,_

_You're one of the most consistent things in my life. Don't give up, if you really care then fight for what you want. Fight for your happiness._

_Dawn._

Paul closed his laptop when he heard a knock at his door. He opened it to see Drew standing there. Paul wasn't in the mood for visitors today so he tried to close the door on him but Drew scoffed and pushed the door open, letting himself in.

"Dude, you look terrible. You do not look good with a beard."

Paul stared at him blankly.

"Okay, so you're not in the mood for small talk. I just wanted to let you know that I'm having everyone over tonight as a pre-Valentine's Day get together. I know it sounds a bit cheesy but Gary and Leaf, Misty and Ash are all going camping in Veilstone City so I thought we could all do something before they go.

"Why would I want to go to a stupid romantic Valentine's Day celebration to see that jerk have his hands all over Dawn."

Drew looked confused, "what are you talking about?"

"Ritchie and Dawn, they are going to be there and they are going to be happy and rubbing it in my face and I can't believe that you as my 'friend' would even come here and tell me about it."

Drew smirked. "I thought you knew. She chose you Paul."

Now it was Paul's turn to look confused, "No she didn't? She told me it was over because she chose _him."_

"So she told you she was going to be with Ritchie?" Drew asked, he wasn't convinced.

"Well, no but –"

"Well don't go assuming things then Paul. After you walked outside that night she told Ritchie she wanted to check on you. He told her that if she wanted to go and see you that they shouldn't see each other again. After that she walked off to see you without a second thought of Ritchie."

Paul looked shocked. She had chosen _him?_

"But why did she end things with me?" Paul asked slowly.

"I don't know. Maybe she was scared. Maybe she wanted you to fight for her or something. Chicks love that shit."

Paul's head snapped to where his laptop was sitting on his couch.

_"If you really care, fight for what you want. Fight for your happiness."_

The words echoed in his mind as he smiled for the first time in a month.

"Drew, I could kiss you right now."

"Ew. Please don't." He replied, looking disgusted but amused.

"Okay just give let me grab my keys," Paul said as he began to look for his car keys.

"Paul. You aren't going anywhere until you have a shower and shave that beard. You reek of vodka. It's not even 2pm."

Paul looked slightly embarrassed but he nodded anyway and rushed to the bathroom.

For the first time in a month he was excited about something. He had hope for something. He didn't glare at the strawberry body wash, and he didn't even glare at all of his clothes. He smirked as he picked out his indigo skinny jeans and a white long sleeve shirt.

He chucked his sneakers on and looked in the mirror. He had shaved – which did everyone a favour – and decided he would need a jacket. He grabbed the leather jacket Dawn had bought him and practically jogged over to Drew.

"Let's go."

* * *

May was in charge of Drew's house as he had said he had an errand to run. Everyone was there – including Dawn.

May sighed as she looked at the blue haired girl. She just looked so _sad._ None of them had seen her like this before. It had been an entire month and there was no improvement.

They had invited her out to heaps of things to keep her busy, shopping every other day, going out clubbing or having group dinners. None of it had worked though. She had accepted every invitation and said she was fine but she would space out the entire night and barely eat.

They were all worried, it was like she had lost all purpose in life and nothing they could say or do would help her.

It had been horrible, Drew had even alerted them to the fact that she was barely eating. She was thin already, but after the previous month they were sure she'd lost a few more kilos.

It was tragic but none of them knew what to do. After the first week Ash had decided to bring up Paul to see if that would start to motivate her to move on.

May frowned as she thought back to that day.

_It had been a week since 'the incident' as the group were calling it. May, Leaf and Misty had taken it in turns to spend time with the girl. They'd decided to invite her for a group night out at a highly rated steak house in the city._

_Even though she had been mostly out of it, it had been a pretty smooth night. The aim was to take her mind off things and distract her into forgetting about 'the incident'._

_"So I went and saw Paul today," Ash said to Leaf. He was inadvertently trying to tell Dawn that Paul wasn't doing so well. He immediately stopped however as she dropped her fork on her plate and stared at him._

_It only took a few seconds for her to begin crying again. Ash had felt terrible. They had all felt terrible. Drew and May had decided to look after her that night, making sure she got home safely and helping her stop crying._

May shook her head. Things had gotten better since then, but they all knew that nothing was the same. Paul had barely said two words to them as they all visited every second day. And between Paul and Dawn they were all fully tied up. It was scary to think that things weren't ever going back to normal.

It was even weirder to see how much they clearly cared for each other. You don't get this upset over someone you 'just' have sex with. Dawn hadn't even been like this after her and Barry had broken up.

May looked up when she heard the door open, smiling as she realised it was Drew, but her face contorted into a look of shock when she realised that Paul was behind him.

"I don't think you should –" She began but Drew gave her a knowing look as he came over and squeezed her hand.

Leaf immediately got up from her seat as she ran over to give Paul a big hug. She had been worried sick about him for weeks.

Paul hugged her lightly but kept his eyes on Dawn. She still hadn't noticed him so he let go of Leaf and walked over to her.

"Hi." He said softly, with his hands in his jacket pockets.

She jumped when she heard his voice and looked up. She tried her best to hold herself together but seeing him this close to her was hard.

She attempted to say 'hi' back but realised that she was going to cry if she said anything so she stood up and walked past Paul to leave.

"Troublesome," he said as she walked. He grabbed her wrist, turning her around and swiftly chucking her over his shoulder.

She screamed, "Paul!" it was sudden and she hadn't expected for him to pick her up. "Put me down! What are you doing!"

Their friends looked on in amazement as he walked off with her, carrying her somewhere else in the house.

When he saw Drew's bathroom he walked in and put her down, locking the door behind them. The room was basic, with a sink, a shower and a bath. The toilet was located in the next room over.

She was mad now, "you can't just pick people up because you feel like it Paul!"

"Well I need to talk to you."

"We have nothing to talk about."

"Yes we do, because I was under the impression that you chose Ritchie, but Drew told me today that you aren't with Ritchie. I've been leaving you alone because I thought you were happy with him and all I want is for you to be happy."

She opened her mouth to talk but closed it suddenly before opening it again, "you thought I was with Ritchie?"

Paul nodded.

"And that's why I haven't heard from you?"

Paul nodded again.

She ran a hand through her hair as she looked to the side, taking a deep breath. "I thought that I meant nothing to you. I knew as soon as I left that I shouldn't have ended things like that but by the time I realised it was too late to take it back. And then you just disappeared without so much as a call and I just thought that you didn't care."

His gaze softened as he listened. "I've done a lot of thinking in the last month. And I've come to the conclusion that I have feelings for you. I don't know exactly what those feelings are but I do know that the thought of you with anyone but me drives me insane."

The edges of her lips began to turn upwards as he spoke.

"Look, I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend. I'm just asking you to not be with anyone else. I want us to be monogamous. I want _both_ of us to be monogamous."

She looked at him for what felt like forever before she nodded. Relief washed over his face as she spoke, "I think I could do that."

He hugged her tightly as he buried his face in her hair. He was so relieved. And happy. He felt _really _happy.

They pulled away after a few moments and her big blue eyes looked up into his dark ones.

"There's something else." Paul said as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. He looked at it for a moment before handing it to her.

Dawn eyed it curiously before she accepted it, opening it up carefully.

When she saw what was inside her eyes widened, "Paul, this…this is…you…why would you do this?"

"I thought that it would be romantic or something." He mumbled, embarrassed.

"You bought us tickets to Paris in Unova?" She looked at him in disbelief as she continued to process this information, "I've always wanted to go there."

"I know."

She smiled as her eyes began to water, "No one has ever done anything like this for me."

He nodded and she reached up to kiss him gently. It was soft, and romantic, unlike their usual kisses.

"We leave tomorrow. I know it's short notice but I also know it's Valentine's Day next week and..well..yeah."

"It's perfect. Thankyou." He held her hand as they left the bathroom.

He let go just as they reached their friends though. Dawn didn't mind, she knew that this was a big step for him; and it was more than enough for her.

All 6 of their friends stood up abruptly when they arrived. Leaf was beside herself as she looked at the two worried that they were both going to start crying or worse.

"Are you okay?" She asked cautiously, the question was directed at Dawn but it was really for both of them.

"Yeah. Actually I'm more than okay."

They all smiled. Finally, things might get back to normal.

"I um, I actually have to go though," she said nervously.

"Why? We haven't even eaten yet?" May asked sadly.

"Well, we have to pack."

Now they were all curious, and Misty asked, "To go where?"

Dawn looked at Paul; he had his hands in his pockets and his face down. He knew that they would have to tell their friends they were leaving the country for a week, but he also knew that the secret would be officially out. He felt awkward about it, he wasn't used to caring about people or what they thought, and he certainly wasn't used to doing romantic gestures.

"Well, we are going to Unova for the week."

Gary smirked, "well, I'll be damned. Ash, we're going to have to kill him for out-doing us."

Ash looked confused, "how did he out-do us?"

Dawn blushed at this thought; he really had gone all out. May let out a squeal of delight as she realised what Gary was getting at.

"AWWWWW! He's taking her to Paris for Valentine's Day!" She ran and tackled her friend excitedly. She was happy that things were beginning to work out for the two.

Even Drew looked impressed as he winked at Dawn subtly.

"Well, we should go. I'll see you guys when we are back?" Dawn suggested.

"Definitely!" Leaf screamed as she went to hug them both goodbyes.

After hearing chorus of 'yeahs,' Dawn and Paul turned to leave.

* * *

Dawn sighed contently as she stood on the balcony of their room. Paul had booked them a five star hotel to stay in, and the room had a beautiful view of the city. They had only arrived on their flight that day, which had been spent getting settled in.

She felt two hands come up behind her as he cuddled her and rested his chin on her head.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she breathed.

He smirked, she was making him soft as he replied, "yeah, you are."

She supressed a girlish giggle as she bit her lip. This was going to be the best week of her life, she was sure of it.

* * *

They awoke to their first day in Paris, they had been too tired from the flight to go anywhere the previous night.

Dawn stretched as she woke up, realising that Paul was already in the shower. They spent about an hour getting ready as it was winter in Paris. She had come prepared with a beanie or two and some of her favourite coats with lots of long boots to keep her feet warm.

As they walked through the lobby they were greeted by some of the hotel's staff. She braced herself as they got to the doors leading to outside, it was going to be very chilly. It was snow weather but according to the receptionist, they had yet to see the first snow of the season.

Dawn looked at the sky excitedly, she loved this place already.

Paul took a deep breath as he reached over and held Dawn's hand. He tried not to smile as he could see her grinning like the Cheshire cat out the corner of his eye.

They talked for hours as they walked around town, sightseeing and checking out the Louvre –a famous art gallery. They had decided to stop for lunch at a crepe cart – Dawn had sworn Paris had ruined her for normal food.

After walking around for a few hours Dawn stopped Paul.

She was looking at a very modern looking alley-way that had café's everywhere.

"Oh Paul can we stop for a drink?"

"Sure."

They sat and ordered, she smiled when she realised he was still holding her hand under the table.

"Paul this is amazing. How you even thought of this? I'll never know, but this is the best day of my life."

He let out a slight chuckle, "just wait to see what I have planned for tomorrow."

Tomorrow was the day before Valentine's Day. Paul had a different thing planned for each day, with the exception of today as he wasn't sure how tired they were going to be.

"Well, if this is only the first day I can't wait to see what you've decided on for tomorrow."

* * *

The next day came quickly for Dawn and she woke up early. She was way too excited about their trip. Paul was still sleeping and she decided to have a shower and get ready before he could get up. She noticed that they had only ever woken up together once which was when he was worried about her after Leaf had said those awful things to her a few months back.

Dawn frowned at the thought. She was deep in her thoughts, wondering if it was weird that they never stayed in bed together, when two hands grasped her hips.

Paul had joined her in the shower. At first he just kissed her gently. Then she pulled out the strawberry body wash.

"Why do you always smell so good?" he asked huskily as she pushed up against the wall, beginning to ravish her under the water.

* * *

Dawn was following Paul eagerly. He still hadn't told her what they were doing today, but he had a map as he led her around Paris – looking for whatever it was they were going to be doing.

After walking for an hour and half – not that either of them minded considering how beautiful the city was – she felt Paul stop in front of her. He had been holding her hand once again – and she was beginning to think that she could get used to this.

She looked around, there were a lot of people, but she wasn't entirely sure where they were.

"I'm not sure that I get it," she stated unsurely.

He smirked, "According to this map, this is one of the biggest shopping districts in the world. Apparently there's all these one of a kind shops and stuff."

Dawn went starry eyed as she began to see little alley-ways everywhere filled with what looked like boutiques.

She let out a high pitched squealing – resulting in Paul letting out a cough of embarrassment.

She reached for his hand and led him across the road – she was going to thank him later for this. That was certain.

They had eventually gotten a cab because they were struggling to carry everything and they were pretty far from the hotel. Paul had been the perfect gentleman – he had let her look in any shop that she wanted to, he had even carried most of her bags until there became too many for one person to hold. She giggled at the thought, he was really trying. It warmed her heart to know that he was doing these things to make her happy.

She had banned him from lingerie shopping – reasoning that she wanted to surprise him. He smirked each time they had gotten to a lingerie store.

After setting all her bags down they decided to order room service because they were so tired. Dawn had excused herself half way through – claiming to want a shower after their big day.

Although she had taken a shower, she had wanted to put on some of her new lingerie for Paul. She had bought a strapless slip dress – designed to be worn under formal wear which was her new favourite item. After putting it on and tying her hair up in a high pony tail she walked out, grabbing Paul's attention as she stood against their bathroom door.

"Paul," she purred, "I think a thank you is order after a day like today."

Paul smirked but he was surprised when she pulled out a blindfold, gently placing it over his eyes.

"This is going to be a night you will never forget."

He obliged her every command as she walked him to the bed and pushed him down before climbing over him. He was starting to enjoy this 'romance' thing.

* * *

"Happy Valentine's Day," Dawn said as she walked back into their room. She had woken up early so that she could get a Valentine's Day present for Paul.

He was only wearing a towel as he walked out of the shower.

"Hey I was wondering where you got to."

"Well, I wanted to do a little bit of shopping to get you something for Valentine's Day." Dawn replied as Paul started to get dressed.

"What are we doing today?" She asked before he had a chance to respond to her last sentence.

He smirked. "You'll like it."

He was now fully dressed and had come over to her and put his arms around her waist, kissing her 'hello' as he did so.

"Well, how about you open your present first." Dawn said, handing it to him. It was wrapped in silver wrapping paper.

He looked at her awkwardly for a minute before accepting the gift and sitting on their bed. He began to unwrap it and his eyes widened when he realised what she had gotten him.

"Wow. This is really nice."

She grinned, "Yay! I was hoping you'd like it, I've been out all morning searching for it."

It was a limited edition cloth-covered book – more specifically, it was a collection of Shakespeare's entire works.

"Thank-you." He said as he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her.

He looked at her for a minute, silently debating with himself before reaching over to his side of the bed and pulling a flat, square box out of his top draw.

"Happy Valentine's Day Troublesome." He said, handing her the gift.

She poked her tongue out at him playfully, accepting the aqua-blue velvet box. She opened it gently and gasped.

"It's gorgeous, Paul." She said as she gazed at the beautiful necklace in front of her. She kept looking at it, before she realised something.

"Wait a minute, I was looking at this same necklace a little while ago, how did you know?"

He smirked, "well, I accidentally ran into you that day and I dunno, something inside of me made me walk in there and get it for you. The assistant said you liked that colour the best."

"I do," she said still amazed that he bought it for her. It was beautiful with black diamonds. She had liked it so much at the store because the colour had reminded her of his eyes. She blushed at the thought.

"Paul, will you help me put it on?"

He nodded as he did so, "it suits you."

She went to look in the mirror and she breathed out deeply, this was too good to be true. _He_ was too good to be true.

"So it's time for us to get going," he said as he gestured to the door.

They spent the day at 'Festival Amore,' watching the parade, seeing the beautiful street artwork and drinking hot chocolate.

When it was starting to get dark, Paul said they needed to get back to the hotel.

Upon arrival he told her to wear something nice, and he proceeded to put on skinny jeans, with dress shoes and a shirt and blazer before waiting for Dawn to get ready.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she was wearing a white strapless dress, with a grey overcoat. Her hair was curled and put to the side with a bobby pin. She was wearing red lipstick – which had made Paul already want to attack her with kisses, and her neck adorned her favourite new necklace.

He smiled, "You look nice."

She looked him up and down, "something is missing," she said as she reached into a shopping bag from the day before.

She grabbed out a textured black skinny tie and tied it around his neck. After fastening it she reached up on her tip-toe's and kissed him.

"You are extremely handsome," she said as she pulled away from him.

He held her hand and led the way to a restaurant, ordering them nice wine while they looked over the menu.

After they had finished with their food, they ordered dessert.

"I'll take the crème-brulee," Dawn said as she handed the menu back to the waiter.

Paul had already ordered the tiramisu.

"Paul, this has been the most amazing trip. I can't believe tomorrow's our last day here."

"I know. The best part is after dinner though."

She looked at him curiously, "you are just full of surprises aren't you?"

"Yep," he said cheekily as their dessert arrived.

Dawn let Paul lead her once more. It was night time now, but Valentine's Day in Paris was very busy. There were couples everywhere spending a romantic night together.

Paul looked at his watch, "quick we better hurry."

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"Cause we will miss it if we don't."

She figured he would explain once they had gotten there so she hurried to walk with him.

She hadn't been paying much attention to where they were going. She had mainly been concentrating on not bumping into any of the people that were going in all directions.

Suddenly Paul stopped and she looked up. He had brought her to the Eiffel Tower.

"It's so beautiful."

He smirked, "wait for it."

She was confused until all of a sudden the Eiffel Tower starting flashing, putting on amazing light show. It was so pretty. They just stood their staring until it was over.

"Every hour the Eiffel Tower flashes like that, I didn't want us to miss it," Paul explained.

Dawn looked at him; he had gone to so much effort for Valentine's Day just to show he cared. She turned towards him and kissed him romantically under the lights.

She thought he would pull away, but he didn't. He kissed her back for a few minutes until they continued to look up at the magnificent structure in front of them.

"There's one last surprise." He said as he took her hand once more.

"There's _more?"_ Dawn asked disbelievingly.

He didn't respond as he led her up to a guard at the base of the tower.

Paul showed him what looked to be some sort of ticket, and the guard's eyes widened as he immediately began to move out of the way, explaining something to Paul.

"Okay, so we can go up the tower at night. They usually don't allow it but I managed to get a favour."

Dawn was too shocked to respond so she got in the lift with Paul and excitedly awaited the top.

It was amazing. The view was so pretty, watching all of Paris come alive, especially on a night as busy as this.

"This is so romantic, Paul."

He smiled genuinely. He truly wanted to make this the best night ever, to show her that he appreciated her.

They didn't allow favours at the Tower, there were tickets available to go up at night but they were very expensive. _Very_ expensive. Which is why he didn't want her to know that he had bought them.

Paul had to admit, it was a nice sight. Watching all the people move down below, seeing all the lights around the city.

Looking at Dawn he noticed her eyes were as bright as the city below, she was excited and awestruck.

'_Mission accomplished,_' Paul thought.

She had kissed him once more and they ended up making out for a while. There were very few people up there so it didn't matter too much.

They eventually descended the tower and walked back to their hotel along the river.

When they got back to the room, Dawn stopped to face Paul.

"Paul tonight…this trip, it means so much to me," she started, "and well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that _you_ mean something to me. I know that I didn't say anything back to you about my own feelings, but I want to let you know that they are there."

She looked at him with a fiery passion burning in her eyes as she kissed him softly.

He kissed her back and they gently began to move to the bed. This wasn't like the other times they had slept together. This wasn't just sex. This wasn't just lust. This was them becoming one; they were connecting on a new level. This was the two of them showing each other how much they felt, how much they cared.

It meant something. _They_ meant something to each other.

* * *

"HI!" Dawn was suddenly enveloped in a group hug by Leaf, May and Misty.

They were having a girl's night now that they were all back.

"Hey guys, I've missed you! How have things been?"

Misty cut in, "Leaf and I went camping and Drew took May out for a romantic picnic under the stars. We want to know how you have been, not talk about how boring we are all night!" She said it playfully but the other girls were way more interested in Dawn's past week than their own.

Dawn flushed, "Well…it was…perfect." She was smiling fondly at the memory.

The three girls cooed, "What did you guys do?"

"Well Paul planned everything, we stayed in this amazing hotel and we ate amazing food. He took me to one of the biggest shopping districts in the world!" Dawn laughed.

"Aw how cute!" May nearly screamed.

"And he took me to the Eiffel Tower and out for romantic dinners. It was the most amazing week away."

"Was it pretty?" Leaf asked, a little less loud.

"Yep. Everything there is pretty. I bought so many berets! You guys can borrow whatever you want."

"So did you guys have a lot of sex?" Misty asked bluntly.

Dawn laughed, "yeah we did actually. But I dunno, things seem different between us."

"In a good way thought, right?" Misty asked seriously.

"Yeah, in an amazing way! I mean he was very specific about me not being his girlfriend but things have just changed. He was very romantic."

Leaf smiled, it was nice to see two of her best friends so happy.

"Well I'm glad," Misty said as she smiled, "maybe soon you'll have one of these too!" She held up her engagement ring as she laughed at the look on Dawn's face, she looked terrified but laughed it off knowing that Misty was only joking.

* * *

Paul had finally started back at work. He was glad to be back, but he would definitely have to use up his annual leave from time to time, he found taking a break a whole new experience. It was refreshing.

He had caught up with the boys the night previously, who had wanted to know all the details of his trip with Dawn.

They weren't too surprised when they didn't get many, but it was pretty clear that Paul was happy.

He had told them that they weren't dating, but the guys knew that deep down it was a big deal for Paul. His actions had certainly spoken louder than words ever could.

He received a message on his phone. Opening it up, he read it and smiled before replying.

Dawn had invited him over for dinner. He sighed, she was making him soft.


	8. Chapter 8

A month had passed since Paul had taken Dawn to Paris and things had been going smoothly ever since. They had spent quite a bit of time together, but Paul had reverted back to his 'no public displays of affection' policy. Dawn had known deep down that the PDA he had allowed in Paris was his way of showing her he cared, and she knew that when they got back things in that department would go back to normal. She was more than fine with it, however, because it wasn't things in public that mattered to her, it was how romantic he was when they were alone that was important.

Privately, things had changed completely for them. Dawn had found herself quite surprised at the fact that Paul was very affectionate when they were alone. She loved it. He would let her hold his hand or lay on him and he had gotten very used to being in bed with her.

Dawn stirred slightly as she began to wake up from her slumber. As her eyes opened slightly, she remembered she had stayed at Paul's the night previously.

Looking around, she realised Paul was already awake, lying next to her in bed.

"Hi," she whispered. His lips twitched into a smile. Oh how she loved his smile.

"Hi," he said back. Whispering had become their thing as of late. She noticed that this was the first time they had ever woken up together while they were both still in bed.

"Were you watching me sleep?" Dawn teased.

He scoffed, "it's not my fault you look so pretty when you're asleep.'

Dawn stared in awe. It was rare times like this where she felt like she could stay like this forever.

"That's so nice," she whispered.

"Then you wake up and I'm all…whoa." He said cheekily.

She pretended to be shocked. She knew he was joking, but it was nice to know that although he cared, their banter hadn't changed.

They laid in silence for a while before he reached over to hold her hand.

"I think this is the first time we've ever woken up together," Dawn said.

Paul gave her a surprised look. "Yeah, I guess you're right.

He pulled her over for a cuddle as he kissed her lightly.

"We have to get up soon troublesome."

Dawn groaned. They were going out for breakfast with 'the gang' which would be the first time her and Paul would be together with the entire group since their visit to Unova. It had just worked out that they had both been busy at different times when any of their group activities had been planned.

* * *

"Hey guys," Dawn chirped as she took a seat at the table of eight.

Excited 'hey's' were released around the table as everyone stared at Dawn and Paul like they were monkeys in a zoo.

"What?" Paul asked. He was taking his jacket off and as a result was still standing.

"Nothing." All six of them said at the exact same time.

Paul sighed, he and Dawn had known it would be like this. They all thought everything was going to be different even though Paul had told them all that Dawn wasn't his girlfriend.

At this point a familiar voice interrupted the little 'stare' off.

"Well look who it is," A sly voice said from behind Paul.

Everyone looked around to see Barry, Dawn's ex-boyfriend standing there with a mischievous look on his face.

Dawn had visibly tensed. Barry had been her childhood friend when they were very young, but when they had dated a few years back he had changed. He had been terrible to her in the end and it had ruined their friendship. It had taken her a long time to get her confidence back because he had made her feel worthless.

"What do you want?" Paul asked, irritated. It was a well-known fact that Paul had never liked Barry.

"Oh nothing. Just wanted to say hey to you Paul." Barry said in a smart-ass tone. He peered around Paul to see Dawn, "Dawn, hey it's good to see you. Gained a bit of weight, I see. But I guess not everyone gets to look like a model."

Dawn was speechless. Barry had always had a way of intimidating her to the point where she'd be too nervous to speak. It had taken her so long to realise relationships were not supposed to be like that.

With the lack of response Barry decided to continue, "You still off acting like a slu-."

He couldn't finish the sentence as Paul had grabbed him by the collar, and pinned him against the wall to the right of their table.

"Go on Barry, say it. Give me a reason to kill you. I _dare_ you."

Barry was a hell of a lot smaller than Paul, and he knew it too. He looked absolutely terrified. In all the years he had known Dawn and Paul he'd always known Paul had disliked him, but he'd never seen him get angry before.

May looked nervous, "Leaf, shouldn't we maybe do something or…?"

Leaf however looked extremely amused, as her smirk matched the one on Gary's face. "Nah, I'm enjoying this too much. The guy deserves it."

Barry stared Paul down, before lowering his eyes and letting a soft smile grace his features.

"Dawn, now do you believe that he has feelings for you? Pfft. I always knew it." Barry said. His words had shocked Paul slightly and therefore loosened his grip, which Barry took as a chance to pull himself away from Paul's grasp. He glared at Paul before muttering "unbelievable" under his breath and storming off.

Paul immediately sat down, moving his chair closer to Dawn as he inspected her face.

"Ignore him. None of that is true."

Dawn brought her eyes to meet his as she nodded.

The rest of the table looked very amused, they were hoping there would be something different between Dawn and Paul when they were in the same room and they had finally seen it. They had seen Paul care.

Misty seemed thoughtful however, "Dawn, what did he mean by 'do you believe he has feelings for you?'"

Drew smirked, flipping his hair, "he means he's smarter than all of you."

Misty scoffed giving Drew a questioning look, indicating that he should continue, "the first time I saw Dawn and Paul in the same room I knew there was something there. All of you have thought they couldn't stand each other all this time, clearly Barry, however, has outsmarted the rest of you. Except me though. I was the first to see it."

Everyone seemed to think about this, slowly remembering interactions they had seen between the two.

Paul had been rendered silent as he stared at his shoes. Dawn was watching him curiously, wondering if he had had feelings for her the entire time. Maybe he didn't know he had feelings for her, or maybe he was just embarrassed at the inference.

Misty, who had recently found a large amount of respect for Paul noticed that he wasn't talking and changed the subject over to her wedding plans. She knew he wasn't good at talking about things and had decided to save him. It was amazing that she had never used to like Paul, thinking he was a bit of a jerk. But what she had realised in the recent few months was that Paul just had trust issues. He had trouble opening himself up to people and letting them get to know the real him.

She had felt honoured when she had realised that he had begun to trust her and Ash, opening up to them ever so slightly.

Paul in the meantime was silently thanking her for doing that. He hated being put on the spot. And he really hated that everyone was talking about them like they were a couple.

Even worse, was that Paul found Barry and Drew's comments very unnerving. Why had they thought he had feelings for Dawn the whole time? He'd never known that they had thought this before. And he certainly had not felt anything for Dawn before Ash's birthday…had he?

Paul was snapped from his thoughts when he heard Dawn talking to him, "Paul what do you want to order?"

"Oh, right. Um bacon and eggs thanks," he said to the waiter who was taking their orders.

"So Dawn, your birthday is coming up soon, do you have any plans?" Misty asked Dawn.

"Yeah it is actually. I guess I was just planning to do something with you guys and maybe my mum and probably Reggie and Maylene."

Paul looked at Dawn, "why would you invite Reggie?"

"Cause we are friends…" she said slowly.

"Oh. Okay then." Paul mumbled as the waiter placed his order down in front of them.

Gary smirked and uncharacteristically flipped his hair, much like Drew often did. "Pfft, you haven't told him about you and Dawn, have you." It wasn't a question, more like an observation.

Paul seemed surprised by this comment and Dawn looked at him with a look of annoyance.

"How could you not tell your own brother?" She asked disbelievingly.

"There's nothing to tell." Paul replied.

At this point Ash spoke up, "Paul, I get that you haven't dated much, but I feel the need to tell you that the woman is always right. Even if you think they are being ridiculous, they are still right."

Misty nodded approvingly, making a joke to Leaf about Ash being 'well trained.'

Paul scoffed, "we aren't dating."

Dawn gave a challenging look to Paul and crossed her arms over her chest.

He noticed this and started to wonder if he had somehow accidentally started dating Dawn without even realising. He shook his head; he had made himself very clear that she was not his girlfriend.

"You're absolutely right." She said, giving him attitude with her tone of voice.

Gary and Ash snickered, whilst Drew just shook his head silently. They knew better than to insinuate that the girls they were dating didn't mean anything to them.

Dawn called the nearest waiter over, "Hi, excuse me but I couldn't help but notice your huge muscles from the other side of the room," she said flirtatiously as she batted her eyelashes lightly.

The younger guy blushed, "oh, thanks that's…well that means a lot coming from someone as beautiful as you."

"Awwww," Dawn cooed, _very_ loudly, "that's so nice. Maybe I could give you my number and you can call me sometime? After all, you wouldn't be too scared to tell anyone about us would you? I bet _you_ wouldn't be embarrassed to date me."

The guy looked ecstatic to be getting a chance with someone like Dawn, he momentarily stared at her like a puppy dog before eagerly reaching for his notepad and a pen.

Dawn reached out to grab the items from where she was sitting until she yelped from shock of being suddenly moved.

Paul had effortlessly pulled her chair over right next to his and glared at the waiter, who immediately recoiled.

The whole group was snickering at Paul who had apparently become slightly whipped. Dawn smirked, crossing her arms over her chest looking very pleased with herself.

"See Paul, you're a smart guy. Maybe next time you won't make jokes about me meaning nothing to you."

A look of shock crossed his face ever so slightly; he hadn't meant that at all. He didn't even realise that she would think he didn't care about her from that. He knew her well though, and although she was smirking with victory, he could see that she looked slightly hurt.

"Reggie knows."

Dawn's expression softened as she stared at him in awe. After a few seconds though she squealed in delight and let out an extremely girlish giggle.

Paul groaned, he was never living this one down.

Leaf, May and Misty all smiled, whether they wanted to admit it or not, the two suited each other. It was like they complemented each other by being complete opposites. It was nice to see Dawn look so happy for once, and if they were completely honest with each other, it was nice to see Paul seem happy too. As happy as Paul could be, that is.

* * *

Dawn screamed as she immediately jumped on the blue haired woman before her. "MUM! I've missed you so much!"

Johanna chuckled as she hugged her daughter back, "I've missed you too Dawn. Phone calls just aren't enough these days."

"I know right. Come on in," she said, picking up one of her mums bags and carrying it inside through to the guest bedroom.

"Are you excited for your birthday in a few days?"

"I sure am. It's going to be so fun, you can get to know Paul. His brother Reggie is coming too."

"I am so relieved the two of you are finally together. The way you've always talked about him makes my heart melt! Although, I'm not sure how he'll feel about 'getting to know me', the few times I've seen him he has sat silently and ignored me."

"Mum! I never talk about Paul. Well, now I do but that's new. And give him a break, he just isn't very good with new people but he'll get used to it."

"Dawn, I don't think I can even remember a conversation with you that you haven't mentioned Paul at some point. '_Paul's annoying, Paul teases me, Paul's a jerk'_, I've known you liked him pretty much since the day you met him. Plus his pet name for you is kind of cute."

Dawn stared. "That is so not true," she said, blushing. It's not like she'd _never_ thought about it. And if she was completely honest with herself, she had known that there were some feelings behind the way she had always acted around Paul. It had all started when Barry had broken up with her…

_"And then he had the audacity to call me troublesome AGAIN!" Dawn fumed. She had decided to go to Barry's house after having a particularly annoying fight with Paul. Why did he always have to make her mad._

_"I don't know why you're surprised. He always does that. Man I hate that guy." Barry replied with a monotone. He was getting really over hearing about Paul._

_"Well I wish he would just stop! He's the annoying one." This was followed by a loud grunt from Dawn, as she huffed and crossed her arms angrily._

_"Well I wish you would just stop. I'm sick of hearing about Paul, Dawn. I'm OVER it! I am so sick of listening to you go on and on and on about Paul all the damn time. I bet he wouldn't mind having an overweight girlfriend." Barry added on the end, angrily. He didn't really think that Dawn was fat. He just wanted to hurt her. Purposefully hurt her. He wanted her to feel like he did every time he heard her talk and talk and talk about Paul. Like shit. He felt like shit. Sometimes he would say terribly cruel things to try and make his own pain go away, but it didn't. It sucked._

_Dawn looked stunned. "What do you mean? I don't always talk about Paul."_

_"YES! Actually you do. You want to be with him? Fine, go be with him Dawn. Cause I'm done with whatever the hell this shit is. I'm SO done with you. You're a piece of shit. And he deserves you. Can't you see the way he looks at you!? He is so in love with you and he just teases you because he doesn't know how to deal with it. And I'm over it. Go on. Get out." At this point Barry was mad at himself, as well as the fact Dawn was clearly in love with another guy. _

_"GET OUT!" He screamed at her, as he stood up and angrily punched the wall to try and relieve some of his tension._

_Dawn was terrified, jumping in shock as she heard the 'crack' when his fist hit the wall. She quickly grabbed her bag and ran out of his house. She kept running, running for who knows how long. Then came the tears. She cried and cried. How could he talk to her like that? Why did she let him talk to her like that._

_Was she worthless? She certainly felt like she was. _

_She cried in the middle of the street, it was dark out so no one could see all her makeup run down her face. Grabbing out her phone, she called Leaf. Leaf would know how to make her better. She would know what to do._

Dawn sighed as she thought back to the memory. It was one of the worst nights of her life. It had killed her confidence in all aspects of her life, which she had worked extremely hard to get back. Most of all though, from that night, she had learnt that she had feelings for Paul. But she had never believed that Paul had had any feelings for her, so she had worked hard to hide how she felt. Arguing back, trying to convince herself that she hated him. It had worked though, she was so good at convincing everyone else that she had started to believe it. That was, until the night of Gary and Leaf's house warming. That was when all her feelings had come rushing back to her in full force.

Looking back to her mum, he was setting up her things in her room, she smiled. "Maybe you're right."

It was the first time Dawn had ever admitted to anyone other than Paul that she had feelings for him, even though he only knew about the 'recent' feelings.

Johanna smiled, "You look very happy Dawn. It makes me happy to see you've met someone who treats you right. Someone who _deserves_ to be cared for by you. He must have done something amazing to earn your feelings, that's for sure. I swore after Barry you'd grow old to be lonely like me."

Dawn looked at her sadly, "mum you're not alone. You have me."

"Yes I know, Dawn."

There was a brief silence as they both thought back to Dawn's dad, to a time when he was around to love them both. Her mother had never gotten over his death. She had never even _thought_ about dating. It was out of the question.

And although Dawn just wanted her to be happy, she couldn't help but feel sad that she felt so alone in life.

She was snapped from her thoughts when her phone rang, and she smiled like an idiot when she saw that it was Paul.

"Hi," she said cutely.

"Hey, what are you doing now?"

"Oh I'm just getting my mum settled in to my house. Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

Paul paused, he had never gotten to the 'meeting the parents' stage with anyone. He would never admit it, but he was a bit nervous about the whole getting to know you thing.

"Yeah sure, I'll meet you guys there after work, is that okay?"

"Great I can't wait."

She hanged up the phone to realise her mother was grinning like the Cheshire cat. Deciding to ignore her, she rolled her eyes good naturedly and walked to her room to get ready, she wanted to look good, at least then if the dinner went terribly, she'd still look good.

Sighing, she picked out a light blue long sleeved mini dress and a pair of white heels. Pretty, but simple, she thought as she started to dress. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Paul ran a hand through his hair as he rounded the corner to the restaurant he was meeting Dawn and Johanna at for dinner. He was late, but he was hoping Dawn would forgive him considering it was only fifteen minutes. As he reached the door to the restaurant, he took a deep breath as he pushed in the door.

Scanning the room he found them, two midnight-haired women who were chatting animatedly whilst drinking some red wine.

"Hey," he said as he quickly grabbed a seat, "Sorry I got held up at work."

Dawn beamed. "It's okay, I'm just glad you made it. We have had the best day haven't we mum?"

Johanna eyed the two closely, seeing how they interacted with each other, "Yes, it has been good. Paul, it's nice to see you again."

"Likewise Johanna. The food here is really good." Paul replied as he reached for a menu.

Dawn and Johanna exchanged a look, it was a big effort for Paul to even be here let alone try to make conversation. Dawn nearly squealed at the thought that it was all for her.

"Yes, so Dawn has told me. I think I'll get the spaghetti Bolognese," Johanna said, without looking up from her menu.

"It's a good choice." Paul responded.

Dawn grinned, "And I will get the lasagne I think," she placed down her menu and watched Paul fondly as he browsed the menu, trying to decide what he felt like eating.

"I'm going to do a steak and a beer."

"Typical man," Dawn said teasingly to Johanna as Paul smirked.

The night had gone smoothly so far, they had enjoyed their meal, with Paul telling Johanna all about his marketing firm that he had started with Gary.

Johanna had listened intently and seemed very impressed with how business savvy he was. If he and Dawn were to stay together, they would be quite the power couple.

"Well, I suppose we should get home," Dawn said as she smiled contently at how well tonight had gone. She would definitely be thanking Paul for the effort her put in.

"Yeah, sounds good," Paul replied.

They walked outside after paying the bill and Paul hailed a cab for Dawn and Johanna to take as it wasn't too far for him to walk home from the restaurant.

"Well, it was lovely seeing you Paul, I am hoping ill get to see more of you very soon." Johanna said as she opened the cab door and climbed in. This left Paul and Dawn standing outside the cab.

She bit her lip, wondering how he always managed to look so attractive. "Thanks for tonight Paul. It really meant a lot to me," she said as she leaned forwards and kissed his cheek.

He looked away, feeling strange about the contact with her mother so close but nodded and watched Dawn get into the cab.

Letting out a deep breath he began the walk home in the cool night air.

* * *

Paul had ordered something online for Dawn's birthday. He was nearly one-hundred percent sure she would love it so he was relieved he'd thought of something good.

He grabbed the present off his front seat as he walked up to her front door and rang the doorbell.

"Paul!" Dawn said, excited about him coming to see her.

"Happy birthday Troublesome," he said quietly as she smiled and stepped back to let him inside.

"Thanks!"

There weren't too many people invited, just the eight friends of theirs, Johanna and Reggie and Maylene. Apparently everyone had arrived before him.

"Sorry, I didn't realise I was late."

She waved her hand dismissively, "Don't worry; they are all just early I think."

Reggie came bounding over and enveloped Paul in a big bear hug.

"Paul! Look at you all happy. And nice clothes, Dawn really must be working wonders on you."

Paul growled in response, "Get off. Now."

Reggie ignored him for a minute before letting go. Dawn giggled; it was funny to see the two brothers interact with each other.

At this point Johanna had come over, "Oh I don't know, I think Paul is working wonders on Dawn too."

On the inside, Paul was a bit shocked. She liked him? She approved of him? Not that he cared of course, but it was good to know.

Gary had heard the whole thing and decided to give his two cents on the matter, "You guys might want to watch it. Paul might try to kill you if you make jokes about them actually being a couple."

Johanna giggled much like her daughter, "Oh I'm sure he wouldn't try to kill me. Besides, they make such a cute couple don't you think Reggie?"

Reggie nodded as the two began discussing future plans for the two.

Paul just sighed, deciding it was probably easier not to comment than to do what he did last time and get in trouble with Dawn. She had made him soft.

"So happy birthday," Paul said again, this time handing Dawn a plainly wrapped present.

The rest of the people in the room looked on as they saw the exchange.

"Thanks Paul!" Dawn chirped loudly, causing Ash to snicker when Paul winced.

She unwrapped the gift carefully. Once she had finished she looked at it with wide eyes.

"Paul…but this is…oh my god. Where did you find this?"

Paul smirked, "I am that good."

She looked at him sincerely, "Thank you."

Leaf looked curious as she yelled out, "It just looks like a book to me."

Dawn was holding the book carefully as she turned to Leaf, "It's a first edition of Pride and Prejudice."

Everyone in the room was silent as they watched the scene unfold. Paul seemed like a real catch at this point.

"Hey, looked like he did well, isn't that your favourite book?" Ash said intelligently, like he'd been paying attention for the last few years.

Dawn nodded, whilst Leaf cooed, "Aww! he knew that it was her favourite."

Paul looked away, trying hard not to be embarrassed by all the attention they were getting.

"Wait a minute; dude isn't that the one I caught you reading at work a while ago?" Gary laughed.

"Yeah we do this thing where we give each other books we like to read and see what the other one thinks," Dawn said proudly.

Everyone "awed" at the two.

"Shut up," Paul said to Gary who was laughing loudly.

They were interrupted as the doorbell rang, signalling that the pizza had arrived.

Dawn and Johanna went to fetch the pizza while the rest found a place to sit at the dining table.

Ash grunted as he angrily shoved his phone down on the bench. "Argh! This stupid thing never works."

Paul raised a brow at him but didn't say anything.

"I wanted to check the basketball scores," he continued.

Paul decided to be nice for once, and pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Ash, whose eyes lit up at the gesture, "Thanks!"

Paul rolled his eyes and decided to offer his help to Johanna and Dawn.

Dawn was sorting out the pizza so he walked over to reach down the plates from the cupboard to help Johanna.

They continued in silence until Johanna spoke up, "penny for your thoughts?" She smiled brightly at Paul.

He froze. _"Penny for your thoughts?"_ echoing through his head over and over until he could barely think. He panicked, nodded at Johanna and walked off to Dawn's room to try and get some space.

He ran his hands through his hair as he let himself fall backwards onto the bed. _Why_ did her memory haunt him? _Why _did she have to leave? Most importantly _Why _was it so hard for him to move on?

He sighed as he lay there silently for a few minutes before hearing Dawn's door creek open.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked quietly, moving to sit with him on the bed.

He looked at her for a minute before nodding. He wasn't okay. But it was her birthday, if he still felt this bad tomorrow then he could try this 'talking' thing she loved so much and tell her then.

"Thanks for my present Paul. It means so much to me."

He reached out to hold her hand while sitting up. Then he leaned in and kissed her softly. She smiled, just enjoying the moment.

"We should get back," he said, starting to stand up. Dawn nodded at they began to walk back to the kitchen.

* * *

**_Meanwhile_**:

Ash giggled uncharacteristically loudly as he clutched his stomach.

The other people at the table looked at him strangely; clearly the guy had lost his mind.

"Dude, what are you laughing at?" Gary questioned.

"This is Paul's phone!" Ash continued to laugh as the rest of them gestured for him to continue.

"Well, I was just trying to check the basketball scores but when I went to the internet this came up!" Ash calmed down momentarily, giggling in between a few of the words.

"What is it?" Gary asked.

"Paul reads some girly magazine and leaves comments on it under "your biggest fan.""

Leaf frowned before snatching the phone away quickly and scanning its contents.

"This is Dawn's magazine. Why would Paul do that?"

At this point Dawn and Paul had entered the room.

"Why would Paul do what?" Dawn asked curiously.

"He reads your magazine and comments on it!" Ash yelled childishly as he chuckled again. He thought that it was a nice thing for Paul to do, even though it was ridiculously girlish.

"What?" Dawn asked, her feet turning to a defensive stance as she turned to Paul.

"I don't know what they are talking about." He said quickly. He glared at Ash however when he continued.

"He writes under 'Your biggest fan.'"

Dawn glared, placing her arms on her hips. She looked positively furious.

"It's not what it looks like," Paul said defensively.

"Oh really? Cause it looks to me like you manipulated me into having sex with you!" Dawn yelled loudly.

"No I didn't, I –"

"So for the last FOUR years you've been emailing me as my biggest fan and it never occurred to you that it would upset me?!" She was screaming at this point.

"No that's not what happen-"

"FOUR YEARS PAUL! And then you asked me advice about what to do to get me?! You used my own advice against me. You know what you're unbelievable."

"Just listen-"

"How could you!?" She was pacing while ranting loudly now. "And I asked you if you had read my work and you told me you didn't know I was a writer!?"

"I LIED!" Paul yelled back.

Dawn stared, "Why? Would you do this?" Her voice was still raised but slightly breaking.

"BECAUSE I'VE READ EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER WRITTEN!" He practically screamed, which was extremely out of character for Paul. But she wasn't even giving him a chance to explain.

"Why should I believe you?"

"BECAUSE YOU MAKE ME WANT TO HUG PUPPIES DAWN!" He was frustrated. No. He was mad. How could she not believe him after everything he was doing for her? He was trying so hard.

Silence. Silence was the only thing anyone heard. He panicked. He was going to lose her. He _really _didn't want to lose her. Not again.

He stormed over to the table where the rest of the 'party' was sitting.

"Ash! What was the first magazine she ever wrote for?"

Ash barely blinked before Paul continued, "You don't know. But I do. Homes magazine. And do you know what the first article was about?"

Ash once again looked blank, "Nope, you don't know that one either. She wrote about building a house from scratch, the pro's and con's. It's the reason she built her own."

And Misty, "do you know she is the preferred fill in at _The Local_? And I don't just mean the romance section, although she writes a lot in that too." He didn't give her a chance to respond, "nope, you don't. But I do. I've read her politics articles, her environment articles and even the ones she wrote on mine and Gary's business."

Leaf, "You've read Rouge before right? Did you know I get every single copy just to read her damn article? Well I do, and did you ready her series about friends with benefits?"

Leaf nodded as her mouth fell open, "Yep, that was about me."

He stopped, panting from all the talking he was continuing to do as he walked back over to Dawn.

"I have read your Twilight Series FIVE BILLION TIMES!" He screamed. "How you possibly made me like a book about vampires in a twisted love story I will never know!"

"Still don't believe me? TEAM EDWARD!" He shouted.

Dawn stared. _Everyone_ stared.

Why wasn't she saying anything? Paul's face distorted as he realised that he was going to lose her anyway. That was, until a small smile reached her lips.

"You called me Dawn."

Paul looked at her in disbelief, "_THAT's_ what you got from that? Really?"

She nodded as tears reached her eyes, "You might actually be my biggest fan, Paul."

He groaned, this was so embarrassing.

"But I've seen your library, you don't even own it." She said sadly.

Paul's eyes widened as he realised there were other people in the room.

"Wait a minute," Gary interrupted, standing up and walking over to Paul, "You showed her?"

Paul looked at him guiltily without responding.

Dawn looked confused, "what? Yeah he showed me, that's how I know Twilight is not in there. If it was your favourite it would be up there with Catcher in the Rye. Oh speaking of which, I still have to give you your copy back. It's hard because I just can't stop reading it."

Reggie stood up from where he was sitting, "You leant Dawn your favourite book?"

Paul turned, "Reggie, I'm so sorry. I will do anything if you'll forgive me."

"Paul; it's okay," Reggie said as he smiled, "Actually I think it's great that you've finally started to move on by sharing mum's books with Dawn.

"You're not mad?" Paul asked cautiously.

"Paul, I've been worried about you and those books forever. This is a good thing."

"Okay what are we talking about?" Dawn interrupted.

Gary spoke up, "That library is probably the most important thing Paul has. He doesn't even let me in it. I guess I don't really read anyway, but it's the principle!"

"But? I don't get it. Why did you show me?"

Paul just looked at her and shrugged. He was _so_ not going to talk about this in front of everyone. He had already said way too much in an attempt to keep her.

They all went back to the table to eat, realising that if they left it any longer the pizza would be cold.

"Paul, I think that's the most I've ever heard you say," Ash said amused.

Paul just grunted in response, he was done talking for the night.

After everyone had finished eating and talking, a comfortable silence fell over the group.

It was interrupted though as Drew let out a loud snort as he began to laugh, "Pfft, Paul hugging puppies."

It wasn't long before everyone was laughing, whilst Paul just glared daggers at Drew.

* * *

Dawn closed the door behind the last of her guests, turning to see Paul and Johanna in the kitchen. As Dawn walked in Johanna excused herself to go to bed, leaving the two alone.

They both stood slightly awkwardly, each waiting for the other to start the conversation.

Dawn realised that Paul had done his fair share of talking, and that it was her turn to initiate the talk.

"Do I really make you want to hug puppies?"

Paul glared at her for a second before letting his expression soften, "Kinda yeah."

"Aww," Dawn cooed as she walked over to him. "Are we okay?" she asked softly.

"I don't want to lose you." Paul blurted out quickly.

"I don't want to lose you either," Dawn said back as she hugged him leaning her head on his chest.

He returned the hug, placing a few kisses on the top of her head.

"Thank you for sharing your mum's books with me. I am honoured that you trusted me enough not only to show me, but to lend me one. That's a huge deal Paul."

"Yeah. But I don't know, with you things seem surprisingly easy."

Dawn smiled as she hugged him tighter, "Honestly though, what made you start writing to me as my biggest fan?"

Paul looked away, "The first time I needed advice. But the day after I heard you come screaming into Gary's about your first fan mail. After that I just wanted to make you feel good about your writing or something."

"Thank you. My biggest fan has always been a mystery to me, yet I guess I always loved knowing that even on my worst days; there was someone out there who appreciated me."

Paul nodded.

"I'm Team Edward too." Dawn said into Paul's chest, resulting in a rare smile reaching Paul's lips.

"Can you stay tonight Paul? I don't want you to leave me."

"Yeah, I'll stay," he replied, leading her to her bedroom.

They spent the whole night talking about Twilight, with Paul asking her why she included certain bits, and Dawn explaining that she had a soft spot for Jacob and part of her felt bad for not putting them together for longer. After covering Twilight, they moved on to talk about almost every column she'd ever written. Paul wasn't kidding, he really was her biggest fan; he knew everything about her writing. It warmed her heart to know that he loved her writing.

It was early hours of the morning when they finally drifted off to sleep, happily cuddled up in bed together as they slept.


	9. Chapter 9

**_6 Months Later_**

A lot had happened in six months for Dawn. Her and Paul were stronger than ever, despite their lack of 'labels' on their relationship.

She was currently shopping with her mum for Ash and Misty's wedding reception.

"Okay, what do you think of this one?" Johanna asked, as she came out wearing a knee length black dress that fell slightly off her shoulder.

"Mum! You look so hot!" Dawn said seriously, making her mum sheepishly swat her comments away with her hands.

"Oh Dawn, you're embarrassing me!" Johanna laughed.

"No really, you should get it. I'm going to have to watch out; Paul might start to prefer you over me!"

Johanna's expression turned solemn, "Dawn, you know Paul won't talk to me."

Paul had avoided Johanna at all costs since Dawn's birthday, and she just couldn't figure out what she had done to make him push her away. It made her sad to think that her future son-in-law did not want to communicate with her in any way shape or form. She sighed as she turned to take off the dress.

"That's not true he's just…not good with new people. It takes time, you know?" Dawn was well aware of the increasing gap between two of the most important people in her life. Truth be told, it worried her a lot more than she was letting on, but Paul would avoid the subject like the plague.

Dawn had just finished trying on her own dress, a pastel pink strapless dress contrasted with her hair colour perfectly. She was even splurging on a new pair or Christian Louboutin's, a white pair of peep-toe pumps.

Johanna had decided not to reply to Dawn's encouragement and had moved to purchase her dress, taking Dawn's with her.

After buying shoes, they decided to take a break and have some coffee.

"It was so nice of Ash and Misty to invite me to their wedding," Johanna said dreamily. Much like her daughter, she was easily excited about wedding dresses and cake.

"Yeah, it was good of them, at least then I can have a few dances with my dearest mother!" Dawn laughed while putting on a posh accent.

Johanna giggled and the two decided to go shopping for 'back up dresses' because apparently they both wanted an excuse to buy more clothes.

* * *

Paul put down his book when he heard a knock at his door. Walking over to open it, he realised a grinning Reggie was barging past him into his apartment.

"Hey little bro!"

"Hi…I didn't know you were coming over?" Paul said unsurely, it was rare that Reggie came to his apartment without calling and he wondered what had made him do so today.

"Yeah I just thought I'd pop in, say hello, see how you were doing and what not," Reggie said, rubbing his hands together in front of him.

"I'm fine."

"How's Dawn?"

Paul sighed, "Yep she's fine too." Reggie gave him a knowing look, raising a brow and Paul rolled his eyes, "okay, she's great," he mumbled."

Reggie smiled brightly, "that's great, I'm happy for you."

There was a pause and both brothers stared at each other until Paul narrowed his eyes, "you want something."

Reggie nodded at his observation, "Paul, I just want to check on you. I've been keeping in touch with Johanna since we met at Dawn's birthday and well, I'm a bit worried about you."

Paul turned his back to Reggie, getting a drink out of his fridge and completely ignoring him in the process.

"Paul?"

"What?"

"Well?" Reggie questioned further.

"Well what?"

Reggie sighed, running a hand through his long purple hair, "Paul I'm just worried that you are still have trouble with mum's death."

Paul visibly tensed, "I'm fine."

Reggie's gaze softened, "Paul, it's okay to miss her. And it's okay to think about her. But it's not okay to let her death stop you from moving on. It's been a long time Paul."

"I know. It's just…hard," Paul admitted. This whole thing with Dawn had made talking about things much easier for him. The effect she had on him was amazing.

"I know. But I want you to know that although we don't have our mum around, Dawn still does, and it's important to her that her 'boyfriend' can be in the same room as her mother."

Paul pursed his lips, had Dawn said something to Reggie?

He must have sensed what Paul was thinking because he continued, "I was talking to Johanna and she is worried that if you don't want to talk to her for whatever reason, it might affect her relationship with Dawn in the long run."

"But I don't want that. I just can't be around her."

"Why? What happened?" Reggie asked.

"She's just like mum. Happy and girly….but mostly…she said…penny for your thoughts." Paul had crossed his arms at this point, and was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring at the floor.

"Oh," Reggie said quietly.

"Yeah."

"Paul, did you ever think that maybe this was a second chance for you to have someone in your life who could love you like a son? Let's face it, one day, you and Dawn could get married, and if that happens don't you think you and Johanna will have to get along?"

"Wow Reggie no one said anything about marriage."

"It's not the point, Paul. I think that it would be good for both you and Dawn if you could make an effort to get along with Johanna."

Paul looked to be deep in thought.

Reggie let him process for a minute before continuing, "She's really lonely Paul, because her husband passed away. Now just think for a minute, if our mum was still here, would you want her to feel alone and sad?"

After a long pause, Paul replied, "No."

"Me neither." Reggie stated before squeezing Paul's shoulder gently before letting himself out.

Paul had a lot of thinking to do.

* * *

"Hi," May said cheekily to Drew as she saw him in the hallway of the Wedding Venue.

"Hi, don't you look beautiful," Drew said smoothly as he casually pulled May in to slow Dance with him.

"Dancing? But there's no music!" May laughed.

"So?" Drew said as he spun her around then proceeded to keep dancing with her in a small and informal waltz.

"Good point. You're a very good dancer," May complemented, "And you look very good in a suit I might add."

"Yeah, I know," Drew replied, flicking his hair while continuing to move her around the hallway.

"Ugh, you're so full of yourself. Way to ruin the moment," she pouted but Drew knew she was just messing with him.

"Yeah, but the moments not over."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're my girlfriend now and I wanted to make this moment romantic. You know, special."

"I'm confused," May said slowly, they were still dancing. It was surprising how good a leader Drew was, because he managed to keep May's clumsy feet in check while maintaining a normal conversation.

"And I'm in love with you," at that point May's mouth fell open but before she could reply he leant her over in his arms, and swept down to kiss her gently.

After a few moments he gently stood her back up but held his arms around her lower back, no longer dancing.

She was silent for a few moments as she seemed to be processing what he had just said. After opening and closing her mouth a few times she settled on, "Are you sure?"

He laughed, which was a rare sight, coming from Drew, "I'm sure."

"But….why?"

He laughed once more, "this. This is why, May. You don't even realise how amazing you are. It's one of the many reasons why I fell in love with you. You challenge me. You are one of the only people on this planet that can make me laugh. And I'm sure you're the only woman who can make me happy."

May was blushing at the beautiful comments, "Wow. That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

"I'm glad."

They were staring into each other eyes for what seemed like forever until Drew coughed awkwardly.

"Huh?" May began before her eyes widened, "Oh! Drew, I love you too!"

He had looked away from her at the point where he had thought she didn't feel the same way, so she used her hand to gently pull his face in to hers for a passionate kiss.

The moment was slow and romantic, intimate even. That is, until Drew snorted, "Trust you to forget to say it back."

May's facial expression changed to that of anger, "I didn't forget!" She yelled.

He laughed as she shut her up by kissing her once more. They were so in the moment that they didn't hear approaching footsteps.

"Ahem."

May and Drew broke apart but remained close together, the two were often found holding hands or something small yet intimate.

"Well look at you two being cute," Dawn said cheekily with a wink. She felt slightly jealous when she saw their hands intertwined, she just saw it as such a romantic gesture. But she knew that Paul was never going to be that kind of guy and she guessed it was something she'd have to accept. Most of the time she was fine with it, it was just times like these when it got to her.

"Yeah, yeah," Drew said as he smirked.

"Have you guys seen Ash or Misty yet?" Dawn asked.

"No, we were just about to split up to find them," May replied, "If you want we can find Misty together. Drew might need to go remind Ash about the whole, 'groom can't see the bride yet' thing."

May felt Drew squeeze her hand as he kissed her on the cheek and ruffled Dawn's hair before walking off in the opposite direction.

Dawn huffed, "seriously? My hair took ages to do."

When the two finally reached Misty's dressing room they found a very pale looking Misty next to a worried Leaf.

Leaf jumped up when they walked in, "finally," she whispered, "she's freaking out."

Dawn placed her clutch bag down on the dresser and walked to sit beside Misty, "hey Mist, how you doing?"

The red head glared at her, "I think I'm going to throw up."

Dawn laughed as she rubbed her friends back, wondering how the boys were going with Ash.

* * *

The boys were fairing a lot better than the girls, which was surprising to everyone.

"And you're fine?" Gary asked disbelievingly

"Yep," Ash said confidently.

"Dude, how are you this sure?" Gary asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Because I love her more than anything."

Gary couldn't bag Ash for that, so he simply gave him a firm pat on the shoulder and proceeded to sit down next to Paul, who had been sitting their quietly, reading a book.

At this point Drew arrived, smirking as he got a text from May, "hey guys, Ash, looking good. So apparently Misty is not doing so well."

Ash's face dropped, "is she okay? What happened? I have to see her," He proceeded to walk towards the door but was held back by Drew and Gary.

"Dude you can't, girls have rules about this remember?"

"Well…what do I do then?" Ash asked,looking sad.

"How about we send Paul instead?"

Paul looked up from his book and sighed when all three guys were looking at him expectantly, "fine."

As Paul walked out, Delia came in.

"Oh, Ash my baby!" She said as she cried, giving him a deathly hug.

"Muuuummmmmm," he groaned.

Paul smirked as he heard the exchange before he closed the door.

He was wearing a suit that Dawn had bought for him, and he had to admit, it fit him pretty well. He walked with his hands in his pockets towards the girls' room, wondering what would happen next in the book he was reading.

* * *

"Really. I think I'm going to throw up. Oh god. I'm going to ruin this stupid dress. I can't do this, I cant." Misty was practically hyperventilating at this point, and May and Leaf were frantically searching for a bucket and some water.

Dawn took a deep breath before taking charge, "Misty, breathe, it's going to be okay."

After instructing her to take some deep breaths with her prompting, Misty started to calm down.

"How do you know it's going to be okay, Dawn?"

"Because I've never seen two people more in love than you and Ash. I look at the two of you and feel so, _so_ happy because it's like you were destined to be together."

"But…how am I supposed to know if I'm making the right decision?" Misty whispered.

Dawn appeared deep in thought after this question, as she looked at her hands. A small smile graced her lips as she began to speak "he makes you feel alive. He makes you want to scream loudly and smile like an idiot even when you're by yourself. He infuriates you sometimes, but it just makes you love him more. And you get to that point where he does something that makes you realise that you'd be perfectly happy doing this – your relationship – with him for the rest of your life."

Misty was watching intently. She had calmed down now, to the relief of Dawn, May and Leaf.

"Is that how you feel about Paul?" Misty questioned.

Dawn paused for a minute, looking back at her hands before answering softly, "yeah…yeah it is."

Misty smiled, "I'm ready."

Leaf grabbed her hands to help her stand, "you look beautiful. Ash is a very lucky man."

The four girls giggled until Misty paled once more, and quickly moved to the bucket that Leaf had brought close by, and then proceeded to empty all of the contents of her stomach.

A knock at the door got their attention, and Paul answered, looking confused at the vomiting Misty.

"Is she okay?" He asked the group, but his eyes were looking intently at Dawn for some reason.

"Um, I think so. She'll probably feel better after this."

Dawn went to Paul and led him out to the hall, to give Misty some privacy.

She leaned up and kissed him briefly, knowing that hated kissing her in public. She was pleasantly surprised however when he pushed her against the wall and deepened the kiss.

When he pulled away, he kept a hand resting on her waist, the other on the wall above her head, supporting himself.

"You look really nice," he said quietly.

Dawn beamed, "you look pretty sexy yourself." She busied her hands by fiddling with his tie, ensuring it was straight and sitting properly.

Paul stood up straight, pulling away, "I should get back…"

"Yeah. Me too…save me a dance later?" She asked hopefully.

"Maybe." He smirked before walking off. He hated dancing, but maybe just this once he'd make an exception.

When he rounded the corner out her vision he stopped and leant against the wall. She could see herself spending the rest of her life with him? It was a big thing to say. She wasn't even his girlfriend. Was she? He wasn't all that sure anymore.

Paul wasn't very good at being 'deep', and now he had a lot to think about. How did he feel about her? She had said she loved him. Not exactly but she had certainly implied it. Did he love her? What did all of this mean?

He figured his thinking would have to wait as he ran a hand through his hair and walked back the Ash's room to tell him his future wife was fine…he didn't want Ash to know that Misty was this worried about marrying him, he was sure she was just nervous or something anyway.

* * *

Dawn closed the door behind her with a smile on her face, before she remembered that Misty was still sick.

May and Leaf were running off lists of possible reasons why she could be sick, with Misty checking them off as they went.

"It could just be nerves?" May suggested.

"Or something you ate. Did you eat anything that might have disagreed with you?" Leaf asked.

Misty shook her head; she hadn't eaten anything out of the ordinary in the last few days.

"Stomach bug? Maybe you caught something?"

Misty once again shook her head; surely the universe wouldn't be that cruel to her.

"There's got to be another reason, are you feeling any better yet?" May was pacing now, worried about her friend.

"Misty," Dawn said sharply, attracting the attention of the other three girls instantly.

"Yeah?" She groaned, her head still leaning into the bucket in front of her.

"Well…it's just a thought but could you be pregnant?"

They stared. After a few moments of silence Dawn continued, "Well it was just a thought."

"Wait a minute," Misty said quietly as she looked to be doing some sort of calculations in her head.

They all watched, May had moved to sit next to Misty and trace her fingers lightly over her back in an effort to comfort her.

"Maybe? I don't know…but it would explain a lot lately."

The three girls nodded whilst Leaf grabbed her car keys, ready to run to the store.

* * *

Dawn, May and Leaf were all fidgeting constantly as they waited outside the bathroom for Misty to take a couple of tests, to try and get an accurate reading.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the lock clicked and a very calm Misty walked out.

They all looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"So?" Leaf prompted.

"Well…looks like Ash and I are going to be parents."

The three girls screamed and hugged Misty affectionately.

"Are you excited?" May asked.

"Well I don't know…this is just so much to process, and I haven't even told Ash yet…."

Leaf had grabbed three glasses of champagne for the girls, handing one to Dawn and May.

"Where's mine?" Misty asked, annoyed that she forgot the bride's drink.

"Misty, you can't drink anymore."

"Oh…yeah…I guess I can't….wow I didn't even think of that." Misty admitted sheepishly.

It wasn't long before Gary had come to the door, telling the girls that it was time to begin the wedding.

* * *

"Hey Dawn, could I talk to you for a sec?" Misty had approached Dawn quickly, while she was talking to Paul.

Paul nodded at Dawn and watched her walk off to the balcony with Misty before taking a sip of his beer. The wedding had been pretty quick, for which Paul was grateful, and even he had to admit he'd never seen two people happier than Ash and Misty.

Now, they were at the reception, and people were dancing and having fun, whilst others were drinking and talking. Paul was merely standing on his own now that Dawn had left and he was busy surveying the surroundings.

He noticed his brother talking to Johanna, before Maylene walked over to sweep Reggie up on the dance floor. At first Paul rolled his eyes. But then his eyes looked over Johanna, to see that she looked to be almost in tears. Paul wasn't sure because he was standing over the other side of the room.

Then, it hit him. _"She's really lonely Paul, because her husband passed away. Now just think for a minute, if our mum was still here, would you want her to feel alone and sad?"_

Reggie's words echoed over and over in his mind. If that was his mum he wouldn't want her to feel that way, and he'd do everything in his power to make her feel less lonely. Before he could think his feet began moving over to her at a rapid pace.

"Johanna."

The woman looked up from underneath her blue hair and her eyes widened – she wasn't expecting Paul to talk to her at all.

"Paul, are you –" Before she could finish he reached his hand out to her gently.

"Would you do me the honour of this dance?" He was really turning on the charm.

She looked surprised but nodded and took his hand anyway, letting him lead her onto the dance floor.

It was a slow song but neither of them minded.

"My mum taught me how to dance when I was young," he said quietly.

Johanna's eyes nearly fell out of her head, not only was he willingly dancing with her but he was also willingly talking to her? Her eyes softened before she replied.

"She must have been a very good teacher, considering you're a natural at this." She smiled.

A few silent moments passed before Paul spoke up again, "her most used phrase was, 'penny for your thoughts?'"

Johanna looked at him confused but he continued, "when you said that to me at Dawn's birthday…it just…something inside of me snapped. You're a lot like her…happy and excited all the time…it was hard."

"Paul I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"I know. I don't like to talk about things. But apparently Dawn has managed to bring it out in me anyway, so I just wanted you to know why it has been hard for me to talk to you."

Johanna smiled and laughed sweetly, "Paul you have brought out the best in Dawn too. You make a lovely couple."

Paul smirked but didn't say anything as he continued to lead her around the dance floor.

* * *

When Dawn had followed Misty outside, she watched the red head twist her hands nervously.

"Are you okay?"

"Dawn what if he doesn't want kids?"

Dawn laughed, "Oh, trust me; Ash will want kids with you."

"But how do you know? What if he wanted to wait?"

"Misty, calm down. Ash is going to be happy about this, just tell him and everything will work out."

"Tell me what?" Both women spun around to see Ash standing there worriedly. He approached Misty and inspected her face, worried that something was wrong.

"I'll….um…leave you guys to it. She quickly reached out and squeezed Misty's arm reassuringly before winking at Ash.

She walked back into the reception hall to see that Paul was not where she left him. She scanned the room and couldn't find him…until a glimpse of purple flashed in the corner of her eye.

Dawn stared in awe as she reached a hand to her mouth, her eyes tearing up. Paul was gracefully sweeping her mum across the dance floor.

Dawn watched until the song ended, then made sure she hadn't let any happy tears escape before walking over to talk to Paul.

* * *

"Misty, you're my beautiful wife…and I want you to know that you can tell me anything." Ash said it so earnestly, it was comforting.

Misty felt her eyes welling up as she looked into his big brown eyes, "Ash…I'm…pregnant."

He stared. After a minute or two she started to panic until his face broke out into a grin.

"REALLY!?" He screamed, lifting her up and spinning her around.

She laughed at the concern on his face when he placed her back on the ground, "Oh, Mist I'm sorry I should be more careful, he made sure she was standing steadily before placing a hand on her stomach.

"I'm the luckiest man alive," he said before kissing her.

"I'm so relieved; I thought you were going to be sad about it happening so soon."

"Misty, I can't wait to have kids with you. Imagine a little girl with my hair and your eyes…I just hope she doesn't get your temper." He said the last bit so seriously that Misty whacked him lightly with her hand, but smiled anyway.

They stayed on the balcony for another ten minutes making out and saying 'I love you' over and over. They had never been more in love with each other.

* * *

After the song finished Paul led Johanna off the dance floor, "There's someone you should meet."

"Excuse me, Delia?" Paul inquired, interrupting her from talking to some family members.

When she had given him her full attention he began the introduction, "This is Johanna, Dawn's mother."

The two women smiled warmly at one another and immediately began discussing their kids, the wedding and well anything else they had in mind. Paul smirked to himself until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around to face Dawn who was grinning, "Paul, I can't believe you did that. It was very sweet of you."

"It was nothing." After a minutes pause he continued, "I guess we may as well get this dance over with," he said it with a smirk on his face so that she knew he was joking.

She eagerly accepted and they soon found themselves dancing to some romantic slow song.

"Weddings just make so happy, you know?" Dawn had stars in her eyes.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"I know but it's just so fun. Everyone is so happy and the whole thing is romantic…it's just nice. I always pictured my wedding would be a lot like this, light and fluffy and I'd wear the most beautiful dress." She was daydreaming whilst still dancing.

When she realised that she was talking to Paul she immediately snapped out of it, "Oh, um I mean…I'm sorry that's not what I meant to say."

"It's okay."

"No it's not, Paul I wasn't implying that...we…would get married I was just talking in general about my wedding…" She realised she'd better stop talking before she put her foot in it any more than she already had.

"Is that…something that you'd want?" He asked her quietly.

Her mouth fell agape, and she had to collect herself before replying, "Um…well…I mean we aren't even dating right? So I uh…guess not."

He felt his heart drop, despite the fact that he had heard her say that she would be happy to spend the rest of her life with him earlier that day. Did it bother her that he didn't like labels? After a lot of thinking that day he'd come to realise that maybe they were dating.

"Well what if we were dating?"

"But we aren't," She wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"Well maybe we should be."

"You want me to be your girlfriend?" Her voice was timid and unsure, she didn't want to jump to conclusions and cause him to run for the hills.

He pursed his lips for a minute before letting out a deep breathe, "yes."

Dawn beamed, "really?!" She squealed loudly and blushed when she realised the couples dancing around them had looked over thinking something was wrong.

Paul coughed, "yes…but don't make me change my mind."

Dawn knew he was just joking so she allowed him to pull her in closer and keep dancing. It might not have been a huge step, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. It was huge for Paul.

* * *

The rest of the night had gone by smoothly, with all the guests finally heading home, leaving the eight friends.

Johanna and Delia were approaching Ash and Misty to say goodnight.

Ash tapped his champagne glass with a fork lightly to get everyone's attention.

"Guys, me and my new _wife_ would like to thank you all for your ongoing help and support. It has meant a lot to us, and to uh…end the night we have a little bit of news."

The girls smiled knowingly but let the two have their moment.

"We're pregnant!" Misty yelled excitedly with Ash bringing her in for a light kiss before being pummelled by his mother.

"Muuuuumm, stop!" He groaned but he was smiling at the same time. When Delia pulled away she went to hug Misty before Ash stopped her briefly.

"Wait! Be gentle with my pregnant wife."

Delia rolled her eyes playfully and proceeded to hug and congratulate Misty.

The boys all jumped on Ash giving him congratulatory punches, whilst Paul just smirked, watching.

Johanna approached Dawn, "Hi Dawn, isn't that exciting?!"

"Yeah, they look really happy," she agreed.

"So Paul was lovely enough to introduce me to Delia tonight, and we have decided to buy two tickets to a cruise around Johto…we leave tomorrow."

"Wow mum that's great!" Dawn pulled her mum in for a hug.

Johanna soon called Paul over and she gave him a big bear hug, "And you, I will be so happy if I can one day celebrate at your wedding to my beautiful daughter. Will you take care of her while I'm gone? You know how troublesome she can be." Johanna winked at Paul and he smirked.

"Oh, I know."

Dawn groaned, "I think I liked it better when you two didn't get along." She was pretending to be dejected but she couldn't help but notice that Paul didn't seem fazed when her mother had mentioned marriage. It made her feel warm inside.

The two ridiculously happy and excited mothers left, leaving the eight to themselves.

It wasn't long before Gary had made a suggestion.

"Okay guys, how about we play truth or dare but you know…with alcohol," Gary said.

After hearing a chorus of 'yeah' and 'sure' the group moved to one of the tables.

Paul and Dawn took a seat next to each other at the table, whilst Gary retrieved some shot glasses and a bottle of vodka from the bar.

"Okay, who wants to go first?"

Ash stood up eagerly, "Leaf! I dare you dance on this table to "Who let the dogs out?" It was amusing that no matter what stage in life they were at, they were clearly never growing up.

Leaf smirked at the challenge as Gary turned up the music to accommodate his girlfriend's embarrassment.

"Ash, that's cake," Leaf said smoothly, as she climbed on to the bench and began to dance like a crazy person. The others could not stop laughing. After she was finished, she got down and took a shot of vodka, thinking about what dare she wanted to give.

"Okay, Gary I dare you to skull your beer."

He didn't even respond, he just began sculling and in about thirty seconds his beer was completely gone, he then followed it up with downing one of the shots he had made earlier.

"I was hoping you'd pick me. Drew, I dare you to give May a compliment. Something genuine," Gary winked, he was grinning like the Cheshire cat. He just figured it would be funny to watch Drew squirm.

May instantly turned beet red at the thought. It seemed a bit awkward to her, Drew was going to be forced to give her a compliment. Despite the fact that they were dating, nothing had really changed between them, besides a few rare moments. They still argued a lot but it was really only the way in which they said things that was different.

Drew looked at his cup before looking sincerely at May, "I think you have beautiful eyes."

A few moments passed by while they stared at each other, before he realised Ash had handed the shot to him. He threw it back and smirked evilly, he already knew what he was going to say, "Dawn, I'm sorry."

"Why are you –?" She couldn't finish that sentence because Drew continued.

"Paul, I dare you to kiss Dawn. But the good kind of kiss, not the 2 second one."

Silence. There was complete silence.

"No."

"It's just a kiss Paul."

"No."

"Look its fine, can we stop playing this game?" Dawn said quickly as she abruptly stood up and walked to the bar to retrieve a new bottle of red wine, to refill her glass, she was quite drunk at this point.

"He obviously doesn't have the balls to do it," If she was sober, she would never have said it.

"Pfft, that's not it."

"Well then prove it big shot. You think you're so tough all the time. But you wouldn't dare kiss me in front of people now would you?" she taunted.

"Troublesome," he growled.

"See. Told you. You kiss me all the time I really don't see the big deal Paul. Maybe I'll just have to find someone else to kiss me in public."

He knew she was joking, but that line had driven him crazy anyway.

She had her back to him as she was pouring her drink. Once she put the bottle down and her hands were free, Paul spun her around and kissed her passionately. Both his hands were resting lightly on her jaw-line and her hands had moved to rest on his forearms.

After a minute he pulled away but kept his forehead pressed to hers.

He didn't have to say anything, but she knew when she looked into his eyes that he was asking her to stay with him.

She bit her lip and they began to move away from each other as their friends let out 'awes' and wolf whistles.

"See, it's not that hard." She whispered as she smiled.

After she had put away the bottle she used to pour her drink she turned back to the table to sit next to Paul.

What happened next shocked everyone as he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap. There was a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks but everyone ignored it, knowing that it was a big thing for Paul to do.

"Anything to shut you up, girlfriend," he whispered in her ear.

Dawn grinned, before she sat comfortably for the rest of night. Truth be told, she had never been happier. And to think, it all started with her Dirty Little Secret.

**_All finished! Thanks for reading. I have an idea for a one-shot connected to this and a completely new story too so keep posted for those. Special mention to theasianwonder for her continued support!_**


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